Your top 5 Tuba CD

[Trumgottist]

It just doesn't sound like the right timbre/register for solo instrument. The piano seems not to blend with the big tuba.

I do appreciate that people like Tuba solo CDs and the performers are stellar. I don't mean to take anything from them, it's just not for my ears.

I think I understand what you're getting at. Have you listening to lighter (in timbre, I mean) tuba music? I keep returning to Baadsvik's Ferry Tales (the link goes to the album on Spotify, where you can listen to it for free) that I've already mentioned in this thread - he plays mostly in cello register, so I wonder if that may be more to your liking.

I can agree with your comment on tuba+piano btw. It's a tricky combination, and a big part of why I don't like Danzas as much.

[T. J. Ricer]

I'm going to take a different approach on this one and list the CDs that were the most influential to me when I was young, rather than what I think are the 5 very best today. In many cases, it was just that these were the CDs that local record stores stocked or that I was given as gifts along the way. . .

Kevin Morgan - Virtuoso Tuba - my very first tuba solo CD, given to me in high school by my parents. It was one of the first CDs of any kind that I owned and I listened countless times. . .

The Essential Canadian Brass - that one, I think, had both "Tuba Tiger Rag" and "Flight of the Tuba Bee" - one of the very first tuba sounds I tried to model.

Besses o' th' Barn - Concertos for Brass (Fletcher doing the Gregson) - played a movement from the Gregson for High School solo and ensemble contest and Mike Thornton pointed me toward this recording. This was my first exposure to Fletcher, who is now one of my very favorites.

Harvey Phillips - In Recital for Family and Friends (loaned to me by my very first private teacher, Gary Langhorst, an Indiana grad). I remember him telling me he would listen to it and get depressed because he couldn't play like that. . . I was definitely impressed, but not depressed!

Patrick Sheridan - Lollipops! I was a little bit older when I found this one, but I ended up performing several of the works on recitals and still think of this as my model for the use of tuba vibrato and expression.


Don't know if that is of any value to anyone, but I enjoyed thinking on those recordings. . . now if I can only find my record collection. . .

--T. J.

[tclements]

Bobo's "Gravity is Light Today"
Pokorney "Big Boy"
Sheridan "Lollipops" Pick one, really.....
Baer "Song & Dance"
Self "Friends at Play"

Also,
Cooley "Romantic Tuba"
Ms Jantsch's "Cascades"
The Pan Metropolitan Trio "Isolation"
Toby Hanks "Sampler"
Michael Lind "Tuba Virtuoso"

Sorry, that's more than 5, but I couldn't leave the other 5 out.

[jwjeffrey]

Here's my top 5 Tuba C.D.'s
Dave Bargeron/Michel Godard-Tuba,Tuba
Howard Johnson and Gravity
Andre Previn-LondonSymphony-Symphonies Of Vaughv Williams
John Fletcher-Le Tuba Enchantee
Roger Bobo-1st Album

[David Richoux]

oops..forgot about Taj Mahal...sorry!

That Taj Mahal album probably sold more records than all tuba solo or ensemble recordings put together!
( I don't have any facts to back that up, but #84 on the Billboard Blues Top 200 of 1971 is not too shabby!)

It sure was the first time I ever heard an ensemble of tubas playing jazz/blues!

[UncleBeer]

That Taj Mahal album probably sold more records than all tuba solo or ensemble recordings put together!

You're confusing this:



...with this:

[David Richoux]

That Taj Mahal album probably sold more records than all tuba solo or ensemble recordings put together!

You're confusing this:



...with this:

No, I have both albums - no confusion. "The Real Thing" had many of the early members of Gravity playing as an ensemble (and I think they were listed in the liner notes as Gravity as well. My copy is in deep storage right now so I cannot confirm.)

[UncleBeer]

I think they were listed in the liner notes as Gravity as well. My copy is in deep storage right now so I cannot confirm.

Mine's right here. No mention of "Gravity" whatsoever, and it's clearly a Taj Mahal album, not a Gravity album.

[David Richoux]

I think they were listed in the liner notes as Gravity as well. My copy is in deep storage right now so I cannot confirm.

Mine's right here. No mention of "Gravity" whatsoever, and it's clearly a Taj Mahal album, not a Gravity album.

Some of the same tubists, anyway. I just checked HJ's bio - the Quartet was called "Substructure" in those days.

[russiantuba]

Going to add a couple that are not on CD (but should be).

Robert LeBlanc: Tuba Solos---one of my favorite recordings. This is a rare recording if any of you want it, I posted a link below. I really enjoy listening to this early recording, and is almost a live recording with amazing musicality. Also, it has the complete recording of the Beversdorf Sonata---which I am not sure has been released with all 3 movements (making this a great reference).

http://classicvinyl.com/20th-century/ro ... aker-piano


Michael Thornton: The Sound of a Tuba--another one of my influential recordings done around 1980 by the late Michael Thornton. The Proto 4 seasons is an interesting piece, and the Beethoven and Elgar are exceptional recordings of the pieces. Mike was an amazing performer who recently passed away, and I wish in honor of him that someone would release this great recording on CD.

[SFA Tubajack]

One I forgot to mention on my earlier posting:

Tubas from Hell - Dave Gannett


This was the first tuba CD that I owned, and really what got me hooked on playing tuba.

[TXtuba63]

Easily my favorite CD to listen to is Pierce Plays Bach. It is magnificent and a must buy!

The others in no particular order would be
Tuba Tracks, Baadsvik's Danzas, and Demondrae Thurman's latest CD