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Watching the New York New Years program. The 'Roots' are playing. I also see them on the Late Night Show (house band). I have yet to hear the sousaphone. Is my low-range hearing shot?

He's not there to play - he's there to jump up and down.

It's all for show, Joe.

bloke wrote:I believe his name is "Dan".....

EGADS!

I think I've said this before about this but he is really apparent during their concerts I saw them the day after Christmas and he took solos and picked up the bass line during a few songs where the bass player actually stopped playing. He is a very good player I am always impressed when I see 'tuba Gooding' live.

hrender wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YJlU1o1ZGc

Well.... there you have it. About as wonderful as I was expecting! Different strokes for different folks. .... I guess.

Did anyone count all those notes he played? Must have been 6 or 7 different notes, at least. Wow! I'm with you Dan.

He's doing what musicians do: he's making a living (at least I hope he is).

Every one in the group is a millionaire according to an interview with them. So he makes a lot more money playing those 'six or seven notes' then a lot of us will make in a life time playing. It's true he's making a living. Appreciate a musician doing something he loves and move on and don't listen if you don't like it.

bloke wrote:I've encountered C&W, top 40, and rap musicians who are extremely well-accomplished (so-called) "classical" and "jazz" musicians (backstage), but playing music in those genres doesn't pay much.

bloke "If you find that you're playing notes that someone else wrote, playing stuff than only niche audiences are interested in hearing, and/or being paid according to some preset 'pay scale', you ain't it."

Yes, yes, we know - everyone who is NOT Joe is doing something wrong.

Well, we could all whine and groan about how he "doesn't really contribute to the band" or he isn't really playing anything difficult when performing with The Roots. On the other hand, we could be glad that the tuba is getting some excellent exposure, especially when you consider the audiences both at concerts given by The Roots and the people watching Jimmy Fallon's show in the studio and at home. Personally, I'm going to opt for the latter, but to each his own.

AHynds wrote:Well, we could all whine and groan about how he "doesn't really contribute to the band" or he isn't really playing anything difficult when performing with The Roots.

My complaint is that he's inadequately mic'ed. From all reports - he *does* contribute to the
band IF you are in the live audience. BUT - for whatever reasons, his sound doesn't make it
on air.

The main problem with this is that it contributes to the stereotype of the "Sousaphone Carrier".

And, I must admit, my impression will be forever influenced by the over-the-top antics (no longer
there, so maybe I should get over it) on the first appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show. Again - it appeared to me to be an attempt to make a VISUAL impression ("look at me!") without making a MUSICAL impression.

I was trying to imply in my original post that all that's necessary any more seems to be bad (rap) vocals, out-of-tune guitars, and drummers that are far too loud. This group is doing most likely doing a great job appealing to the hip-hop segment of society and doesn't really give a rats *** about us tuba players. It's all for the show. I suspect that their average audience age is likely to be less than HALF of my 66 years.

Harvey Phillips probably would not be proud of this performance since there is little or no musical value to it.

Harvey Phillips probably would not be proud of this performance since there is little or no musical value to it.

Who decides musical value?

Whenever I see a pic like this I recall:

TubaTinker wrote: Harvey Phillips probably would not be proud of this performance since there is little or no musical value to it.

Yes, I'm sure he would much prefer that those in attendance were not subjected to tuba in any format.

Phillips took the tuba in a new direction, generally unexplored at the time. Isn't that what Tuba Gooding, Jr. is doing? Phillips' work might have influenced more tuba players, but surely Gooding's has influenced more people.

Also, what say ye about the fellow who played this studio session?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV6R0I2oHKY

If you ask me, he only agreed to do it because he had f***-all else to do.

I imagine it is hard to keep up with a very loud band live with a sousaphone....mic'd or not.........

If anyone is curious, he is also in a band called Brass Heaven that plays around ALOT. I think you can hear him much better in these youtube videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH_s2Kv8 ... re=related" target="_blank" target="_blank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfyNs3AS ... re=related" target="_blank" target="_blank (more if you search for them)


It is funny how many people respect the legacy of Harvey Phillips, and then don't do anything innovative. Sitting in the back of the orchestra or playing a new rendition of "Carnival of Venice" isn't exactly what he had in mind. Just the fact that people are SEEING a sousaphone weeknights at 12:35/11:35C is a slight improvement on the few appearances Roger Bobo made on Johnny Carson. Maybe the people watching will know what a tuba is next time they see one. Since the tuba is a generally "young" instrument, you have to start somewhere and build on that; Wynton Marsalis didn't happen overnight, and his list of trumpet playing influences is pretty solid. You can literally trace back the lineage of influences. Now that we have people on the tuba doing something different, maybe it should be encouraged rather than called "without value".

Something else that I have noticed is that many well-known tuba players (known to just more than tuba players, that is) is usually an innovator:

Jacobs: Orchestral playing, and teaching
Bell: Solo playing, technique, teaching
Phillips: Tuba promotion for composition and performance, solo playing, playing everything under the sun
Bobo: Solo playing, technique, new sound concepts
Johnson: Perfection, loud playing, variety in instrument capabilities and musical genres
Pilafian: Quintet playing and jazz
Sheridan: Solo playing....


the list goes on and on. Maybe Tuba Gooding Jr. is just one of the first pieces of the puzzle.

My comment had nothing to do with the process of making a living on tuba, or what any great voice of the past might have thought. I was personally just bored with the 6 or 7 notes he played by the third time through the lick. Not my thang. To each his own. I have acknowedged that I was probably born 4 centuries past my musical taste.

Joe, I didn't hear any tuba.........unless that was you mimicking a bari in the chords. I do like the blues, though. All I have to hear is a 12 bar progression and I'm hooked. Part of growing up on the Mississippi I guess. Don't get me wrong, I'm not kocking what anybody does to make twice what I do by playing a horn. I reserve the right not to contribute though. Some of this new stuff has left me behind, classical music as well. I've lived long enough to be a stick in the mud if I want.

Getting down to the original subject, TV and radio tend to play it safe when it comes down to music broadcasts.

I even remember zapping one day to the Jerry Springer Show(sorry) and he'd invited James Brown to play 'cause Jerry claimed to me nuts about James.

So far so good. Big TV guy invites his music hero and his band to play on his show. Now you'd think that they'd at least try to get it right, but I only remember being able to hear about half of the band. Imagine; a legendary band which also sports a unique combi of TWO bass players AND the bassist has a solo AND....nothing. Not a sound.
No, they didn't forget to turn him on, they just didn't. Too many open channels.

TV usually likes to play it safe; lead & bass. The rest is up to the discretion of the engineer. I even remember seeing playbacks of my own band; big zoom in on the drummer, he plays the standard fill were you work your tomtoms off from high to low and end with a cymbal crash. Too bad the cymbal mics weren't turned on. Funny how they always ARE during the sound check.

Brass instruments are pretty easy too mic 'cause all the sounds coming out of one source; the bell. Tubas are a bit of a problem because not many mics can pic up the lows we're putting out. But in general even though most people perceive the electric bass as producing more lows than a tuba, theres more than enough sound coming out of the bell to mic it loud enough to compete with massively loud bands, even in a live situation.

It all comes down to if the sound engineer has decided HE(or she) wants to hear the tuba or not.

Moral of this story; if your band plays a lot of amplified gigs, you might just want to chummy up with the sound engineer.

pjv wrote:..... It all comes down to if the sound engineer has decided HE(or she) wants to hear the tuba or not.

Moral of this story; if your band plays a lot of amplified gigs, you might just want to chummy up with the sound engineer.

Well! It's nice to see that this thread is finally getting around to what I was trying to say in my original post complaining about the sousaphone. It wasn't what he was playing that I was bitching about. It was the fact that I couldn't hear him!

All I could hear was same old, same old waaay too loud drums and crummy (rap-like) vocals.