Tuba Players We All Should Know...
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Tuba Players We All Should Know...
Fellow Honkers,
I hope this isn't something that is too embarrassing. I love this instrument and I want to pursue it as far as I'm able to. Now that I'm nearly in college, I'm realizing that there is so much I don't know and I feel like I should already know it. I tried searching for a list of "best" tuba players or "most famous" ones, but I'm not sure it's really what I'm looking for.
Would anyone be willing to share their list of "must-know" players? I want to jump right in and listen to as many as I can so that I have a more informed perspective in the community.
Thanks,
Scrub
I hope this isn't something that is too embarrassing. I love this instrument and I want to pursue it as far as I'm able to. Now that I'm nearly in college, I'm realizing that there is so much I don't know and I feel like I should already know it. I tried searching for a list of "best" tuba players or "most famous" ones, but I'm not sure it's really what I'm looking for.
Would anyone be willing to share their list of "must-know" players? I want to jump right in and listen to as many as I can so that I have a more informed perspective in the community.
Thanks,
Scrub
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I am highly-biased toward the Los Angeles players over the years because I grew up in that region in the 1940-50's. Thus, I would pick Roger Bobo, Tommy Johnson, Jim Self, Norm Pearson, Gene Pokorny, and several others that can be heard on movie sound tracks and Los Angeles Philharmonic recordings.Scrub wrote:Fellow Honkers,
I hope this isn't something that is too embarrassing. I love this instrument and I want to pursue it as far as I'm able to. Now that I'm nearly in college, I'm realizing that there is so much I don't know and I feel like I should already know it. I tried searching for a list of "best" tuba players or "most famous" ones, but I'm not sure it's really what I'm looking for.
Would anyone be willing to share their list of "must-know" players? I want to jump right in and listen to as many as I can so that I have a more informed perspective in the community.
Thanks,
Scrub
Ace
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I recommend Chris Olka, Oystein Baadsvik, Arnold Jacobs, Chuck Daellenbach, Roger Bobo, Tommy Johnson, Gene Pokorny, Carol Jantsch, Nat McIntosh, Daniel Herskedal, Sam Pilafian, Patrick Sheridan.
There's a wide variety of colors and styles in their playing, and you can definitely get a taste for different styles of Tubing from them.
The "American Orchestral Tuba Sound" is pretty much defined by Jacobs and Pokorny.
Bobo and Johnson have the handle on the weightier film score sound (see the 1971 Zubin Mehta recording of Uranus).
McIntosh is a way out there jazz solist.
Baadsvik is a virtuosic solist with extreme technical abilities and a very european sound.
Jantsch and Olka are well-rounded orchestral players with sounds that lay somewhere in the middle of the road.
Herskedal is a contemporary (minimalist?) artist that gets some very emotional sounds out of the instrument and makes it very light and airy.
Daellenbach is the player for the Canadian Brass and Pilafian made a career of quintet playing with Empire Brass and Boston Brass
Sheridan has a very soft and playful solo sound.
Listen around to those players (and more that I'm sure others will add) and you'll get a pretty good sense of the emotional and technical range of the instrument and its colors.
You can also listen to most of the major excerpts and find sheet music over at http://www.brassexcerpts.com, or check out Gene Porkorny's album where he plays them with commentary here
There's a wide variety of colors and styles in their playing, and you can definitely get a taste for different styles of Tubing from them.
The "American Orchestral Tuba Sound" is pretty much defined by Jacobs and Pokorny.
Bobo and Johnson have the handle on the weightier film score sound (see the 1971 Zubin Mehta recording of Uranus).
McIntosh is a way out there jazz solist.
Baadsvik is a virtuosic solist with extreme technical abilities and a very european sound.
Jantsch and Olka are well-rounded orchestral players with sounds that lay somewhere in the middle of the road.
Herskedal is a contemporary (minimalist?) artist that gets some very emotional sounds out of the instrument and makes it very light and airy.
Daellenbach is the player for the Canadian Brass and Pilafian made a career of quintet playing with Empire Brass and Boston Brass
Sheridan has a very soft and playful solo sound.
Listen around to those players (and more that I'm sure others will add) and you'll get a pretty good sense of the emotional and technical range of the instrument and its colors.
You can also listen to most of the major excerpts and find sheet music over at http://www.brassexcerpts.com, or check out Gene Porkorny's album where he plays them with commentary here
Last edited by CaptainNemo on Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
Also check out Wilfred Brandstotter and Mnozil Brass. Theatrics, Humor and Exceptional playing! You can find a bunch of their stuff on Youtube.
Lee
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I got a copy of Tuba Helper by David Zerkel.
It covers the basic advanced tuba repertoire most performance majors encounter.
As a non music/non performance major enthusiast, it exceeds my capabilities, but it is well executed and listenable.
It covers the basic advanced tuba repertoire most performance majors encounter.
As a non music/non performance major enthusiast, it exceeds my capabilities, but it is well executed and listenable.
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
John Fletcher, Floyd Cooley, Chester Schmitz, Hans Nickel, and Michael Lind. All made recordings 1-5 decades ago that are still unmatched.
Rick "not always the best recording technology, but what sounds!" Denney
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
Recordings are great, but (when conditions allow) try to hear lots of solid players live.
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I had a discussion like this with Harvey Phillips years ago, we got more into it - what brass players should we all know. All the respective brass societies issue their highest awards annually. Problem is that no one has a list of all of them with biographies, especially in one place. Harvey told me that this was a good job for me, that's how it started! I put it on the educational part of my website - https://www.windsongpress.com/brass-legends/" target="_blank . Take a look!
Brian Frederiksen
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Phone 847 223-4586
http://www.windsongpress.com" target="_blank
brianf@windsongpress.com" target="_blank
WindSong Press
PO Box 146
Gurnee, Illinois 60031
Phone 847 223-4586
http://www.windsongpress.com" target="_blank
brianf@windsongpress.com" target="_blank
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
uh... Sean Chisham?
This is an impossible list -- because outside of the household names, we all gravitate to the people with whom we are most familiar. Or, tuba players that, if I mention them, I'd think we all know who they are.
So, along those lines (especially the latter... I feel like many of you will know who they are):
David Fedderly
Toby Hanks
Steve Dumaine
Kevin Ladd
Ed Goldstein
There are also a TON of military band tuba players (past and present) who are outrageously talented tuba players. It's a separate embarrassment that I can't recall more names for this list, but here are two I can recall at the moment:
Tom Holtz
Scott Cameron
This is an impossible list -- because outside of the household names, we all gravitate to the people with whom we are most familiar. Or, tuba players that, if I mention them, I'd think we all know who they are.
So, along those lines (especially the latter... I feel like many of you will know who they are):
David Fedderly
Toby Hanks
Steve Dumaine
Kevin Ladd
Ed Goldstein
There are also a TON of military band tuba players (past and present) who are outrageously talented tuba players. It's a separate embarrassment that I can't recall more names for this list, but here are two I can recall at the moment:
Tom Holtz
Scott Cameron
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I would ad;
Jon Sass
Bob Stewart
Bob Tucci
Jon Sass
Bob Stewart
Bob Tucci
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I would add:
Jens Björn-Larsen
Stéphane Labeyrie
Roland Szentpáli
Henrique dos Santos Costa
Jens Björn-Larsen
Stéphane Labeyrie
Roland Szentpáli
Henrique dos Santos Costa
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
And Sasha Johnson!
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
bloke wrote:...then, there are some players who are under-the-radar astonishingly good, and others who are boisterously so-so.
Tuba-playing and glad-handing are not synonyms.
Now, that's a phrase I never thought would ever be paired with "tuba"......bort wrote: household names
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I don't think that's what they're teaching in kolidj currently.bloke wrote: Tuba-playing and glad-handing are not synonyms.
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
Howard Johnson
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
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Last edited by tofu on Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
Thanks, Tofu, for your reference to Singleton Palmer. I had never heard of the guy. Here's a YouTube sound-only clip of Palmer's work.
https://youtu.be/V-iu7IBD5kk?t=377" target="_blank
Ace
https://youtu.be/V-iu7IBD5kk?t=377" target="_blank
Ace
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Re: Tuba Players We All Should Know...
I concur with all the names listed on here. I’d like to add Stefan Ambrosius. His playing in the German Brass albums are fantastic.
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