the elephant wrote:Chuck? Comments on your old B&M? Personally, I would love to hear what you thought of this tuba.
I acquired my B&M CC in 1985 after my prized Marzan 4+1(oddly enough, a B&M made Marzan) was destroyed in a car accident. The Marzan was the horn that got me through school(s) and landed me my first gig in 1984 with the old Colorado Springs Symphony. I acquired the B&M because it had the same physical characteristics as the Marzan i.e:, great valves and the "tune-on-the-fly" tuning slide.
I still have the recordings from those years and there is a distinct difference in RECORDED sound between the 2. The Marzan had a very direct and focused sound(more like an Alex) where the B&M was not as distinct and more enveloping. It took me a while to get used to the difference, but I eventually was able to adjust my playing to maximize the horns potential. I distinctly remember using a large Conn Helleburg on it, whereas I used an old style Schilke 67 on the Marzan. The Schilke was not a good fit on it. FWIW, the recordings on the Marzan are of Meistersinger, Shosty 7, and Tschaik 4. The B&M covered Saint-Saens 3, Kije, Daphnis, and others. I
It was incredibly well manufactured, was easy to hold, had great valves, and a GREAT scale(I later found that this was not always the case with THE CC models). I traded that particular horn for an Alex CC that was a FABULOUS example of that makers work and it better matched my sound concept. I remember my B&M well, but was never really satisfied with it, thus the trade for the Alex. I do remember it being a wonderfully nimble horn, albeit with too vanilla a sound for me.
When I was stationed at Fort McPherson, the band owned a BBb and CC B&M. The CC was a very poor instrument. Poor pitch and some really weird focusing issues. The BBb was a good instrument. Later on, when I was at Fort Monroe, the band owned 2 BBb's that were incredible. All of these were silver plated. I played on one for my 3 years there and found it to be a perfect band tuba, very much of a enveloping, omni-directional sound, and very nimble.
The story goes a little deeper. My very first tuba teacher was man named Ray Durke who taught band at New Hartford High School in Upstate NY. He owned a B&M CC tuba that had 4 clockwork rotary valves, a huge bore, and a beautiful silver kranz that he sold to John Vito for $750.00 in 1976. Ray had mentioned that he had gotten it through Peter Popeil at Potsdam and that it was sold through an outfit in Atlanta. It was, in John Vito's hands, a really wonderful instrument.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Chuck"I have pictures Wade"Jackson
*The B&M was actually my 3rd CC. My first was a HUGE Alexander BBb/CC hybrid that once belonged to Chester Roberts (he made the FABULOUS recording of Prokofiev's 5th w/Szell and Cleveland in 1959 on it using the BBb pipes). I sold it to Don Harry in 1980 to buy my long loved, and sadly gone, 4 piston/1 Rotor CC Marzan. I miss both of those instruments, the Alex because my Mom sacrificed alot to buy it for me in 1976 and the Marzan because we went though many wars together, the least of which was represented by a flat spot on the bell stack made when I was pinned to the wall by one of Miko's Elephants at Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus World in April of 1981. Ah, the provenance.
Mark Jones of Buffalo: Could you ask Don what he ever did with that Alex if you see him? Thanks.
