ITEC?

[bigbear19]

Has anyone heard any results on the mock orchestral audition yet? Just curious.

[ahowle]

Mock orchestral audition semifinalists were notified on 3/18.

[bigbear19]

Did they send out emails to those who did not make it because I received an email for our quartet (which did not advance) but no one from Texas Tech has received any news (good or bad) about the mock audition...

[Nick Pierce]

First post ever, here to say I made it in solo tuba young artist. Coming from the Denver area, anyway in this neck of the woods know how they're going there. Flying, or are there plans in the works for renting a van or something, pooling the cost and rotating drivers or something?

[BopEuph]

So, I remember, at least for Budapest (I can't remember if they did this for Denver) that they put a list up of who made it into all the divisions. I'm just wondering, is that going to happen this year? I'm just curious about who's competing this year.

Nick

[CC]

I'm hearing that the jazz competition has been canceled. Is this true or just a rumor? Maybe it fell to the same fate as the Brass Quintet competition did at the Denver ITEC....not enough entries. If so, what a shame.

[BopEuph]

That would be a shame. Last time there were a bunch of guys that did it. Also, Hank Feldman isn't going to be there this year from what I hear, and he had been running it for the last few years.

That could be the case in a few entries. In Budapest there were only three of us. We were the only ones to send in a tape. In Denver, there were a bunch.

I stopped doing it because I found my jazz voice on bass. I haven't tried jazz euph in years. If you really think about it, there really aren't that many guys that do jazz tuba/euphonium, and that's a shame. But it's just too hard to major in that, and play trombone in a big band (and in my case, learn bass too) and expect to get everything down. And, none of the combos really wants a euphonium player. If you play an instrument that's not traditionally in a genre you're crashing, you really better be killin.

Since Harvey Phillips and Rich Matteson, not many have really taken the task of really trying to get the jazz tuba/euph voice out there. There are some great players, like Marc Dickman and Tom Ball, but what they do keeps them busy enough.

On a related subject, since my understanding of the music language has improved, I'm thinking about heading back down that path with all my instruments. Think Marcus Miller on bass and bass clarinet.

Nick

[LARSONTUBA]

If you really think about it, there really aren't that many guys that do jazz tuba/euphonium, and that's a shame.

Since Harvey Phillips and Rich Matteson, not many have really taken the task of really trying to get the jazz tuba/euph voice out there. There are some great players, like Marc Dickman and Tom Ball...

Nick

What about Marty Erickson (Lawrence Univ, Appleton, WI) and Bill Huber (Trevecca Nazarene University, TN) and Joe Murphy (Univ of Cumberlands, KY) and Barry Green and Richard Perry (Southern Miss) and R Wintson Morris (Tenn. Tech) and Jon Sass (Austria)?

Did you miss Jerry Young's (UW-Eau Claire) hour long lecture recital on jazz tuba at ITEC 2006?

Or any of Bob Stewart's acomplishments? Or Howard Johnson?

I bet you would find that Sergio Carolino or Roland Szentpali or Allesandro Fossi (and analarmingly large number of professional tubists) would be just as comfortable in a jazz setting as a solo, chamber, or orchestral setting.

There's also all the european guys that play in Heavy Tuba. I think Roland Szentpali is one of them, actually.

Hopefully this opens your eyes to how many people there are that are playing jazz tuba successfully. There are tons more who are doing it successfully, but under the radar. Tons or brass bands (rebirth, dirty dozen, michael foster project, just to name a few) other groups like drums and tuba, and also just guys. Stefan Kacz (sp?) in the twin cities area won some of the jazz area competitions at ITEC 2006. So there are young minds out there doing this stuff too.

After ITEC 2006, everyone went back to the bar in the hotel and there was 4 hours straight of jazz tuba and euphonium being played while everyone just chilled out. It is a lot more prevalent than you think.

Next time, do a bit more research. You can google all this stuff and find it, along with more. I'm just saying. Don't need this to start something. Just putting this info out there.

[BopEuph]

Not a problem. I should probably clarify:

What I should have said was that the idea itself is mostly localized to functions like ITEC and the rare concert that would include a jazz tuba/euphonium, not that there wasn't anybody doing tuba jazz.

I went to school at UNF, where Marc Dickman taught me jazz euph. It was still very hard to get into a school ensemble or play outside of the practice room at all because of the nature of the lack of familiarity OUTSIDE of tuba players. I would immediately get laughed at by ALL jazzers about playing jazz euphonium, and I wasn't good enough to put them in their place. The only reason I held onto it for so long there is that the professors weren't too against the idea because Matteson founded the school and Dickman teaches there. But even they told me to not expect to work much without a secondary. I even got a cold shoulder from Ellis Marsalis when I pulled out my horn years ago. Up to that point, he was talking to me quite a bit.

The difference with these guys is Harvey Phillips and Rich Matteson worked on getting the tuba and euphonium known in the jazz world through lots of publicity and performing around the world. The other guys are absolutely great players, but most of them are stuck at teaching gigs where they're busy enough doing what they do, or just getting by with the gigs they have. And there is nothing wrong with that; I'm just saying they have their own things to worry about, and trying to popularize jazz on the tuba isn't it right now.

I played a few gigs with Dickman where I played bass in his quartet, but it was way more common that he would hire me for a trio without him; just piano, bass, drums.

Rebirth, Dirty Dozen, Youngblood, etc., are groups we see making tuba popular. Rebirth and Dirty dozen are doing a trad jazz thing, and the rest, I wouldn't consider jazz. And with the exception of the aforementioned, if you want to make a living doing trad jazz, you should probably move to Louisiana, and not expect to get too much publicity about it, meaning it's minimal help in further popularizing the idea.

If a tuba player was getting into jazz in high school (or in college sometimes), the teacher would probably tell them either to learn trad jazz or, like in my case on euphonium, switch to a different instrument (like trombone). If the teacher has good knowledge in jazz, he might have the kid check out the Gil Evans and Miles recordings that included Bill Barber. But, anything with him on it is fairly hard to get (with the exception of about four recordings). Unless the director is a tuba player, there's a good chance he hasn't heard about any of the players we have mentioned besides Barber. Compare that with the number of recordings of JJ Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, etc. out there with easy access, and it shows how tough it is to really get many gigs unless you make your own. And you better be REALLY good.

Because of this, very few tuba players even get the idea until they go to ITEC, which is great. I think if there could be some jazz euphonium/tuba in some place like the Montreux Jazz Fest, it would help quite a bit.

Heck, it would be nice if we could get one of these guys an article in Jazz Times or a related periodical. If we could have one player even half as known as Josh Redman or Brian Blades, the idea of tuba jazz would hold better in the general world and even more so in the jazz world. I'd really like to see that. And, like you have said, any one of the aforementioned could do it.

Nick

[LARSONTUBA]

Gotcha. The localized aspect is certainly true. And you are also correct about most of those college dudes. Outside of the U.S., I believe that Heavy Tuba performs rather reguarly on the international level, but other than that, there is not a whole lot of jazzin' going on when ITEC isn't nearby.

Clarification accepted!!

[BopEuph]

Whoops, I forgot one sentence to tie it back into the topic:

It's these reasons why I wouldn't be surprised if there were only a few entries to an ITEC jazz competition. I would highly recommend any student jazz tuba/euphonium players to find a much larger jazz competition, too. I never really checked on it, but I'm sure that there's a general competition for horn players and the like. It would really raise more heads at accepting it.

Nick

[David Spies]

Regarding jazz on tuba and euphonium--

It is indeed a sad thing that the ITEC Jazz Competition was canceled due to a shortage of entries.

There's been great strides in the area of Jazz Education for Valved Low Brass, with Rich Matteson, Harvey Phillips, R. Winston Morris, Dan Perantoni, Jim Self and so many others. If students are interested and committed, they need to stick to their guns and study jazz regardless of the "lack of opportunities".

There is a bias against Valved Low Brass in jazz--at UNT Brian Davis and Marc Dickman were both accepted to the One O'Clock, but they had to play slide (tenor or bass). No valve trombone (even though Juan Tizol and Bob Brookmeyer in jazz history seem to have demonstrated it had merit) and no euphonium.

What can it hurt to have yet ONE MORE trick in your arsenal--to have a double? Look at Major Holley--he was called "Mule" because he was always laden down with instruments (bass, violin, tuba, etc.) Howard Johnson plays tuba, Baritone Sax, penny whistle, and other instruments.

BTW: How may tuba players like me have had to occasionally cover the Baritone Sax book on tuba in a pinch in their big bands? (If you haven't--it's a real gas!)

It is true that there's not a ton of work out there, but then again, jazz is what you make of it. There are possibilities for those who are patient, study, LISTEN, take and make any opportunity that you can.

Many great people have been mentioned already in this thread, and some great ideas have been proposed as well.

There are a lot more jazz folks out there, probably within driving distance of just about anyone. Just a tiny few that come to my mind at this late hour include Art Hovey, Richard Murrow, Gary Karper, Jeff Hodapp...with sleep more will come to mind.

The key is to continue shedding, listening, networking, expanding your horizons, etc. You never know when the opportunity will arise, so just be ready. And it could be a HUGE break! Just think of Ray Draper and John Coltrane

Dave Spies
Madison Jazz Orchestra
Willson Tuba Quartet
Racine Symphony Orchestra

[BopEuph]

There is a bias against Valved Low Brass in jazz--at UNT Brian Davis and Marc Dickman were both accepted to the One O'Clock, but they had to play slide (tenor or bass). No valve trombone (even though Juan Tizol and Bob Brookmeyer in jazz history seem to have demonstrated it had merit) and no euphonium.

Actually, Brian was the only valve trombone player ever in the One O'Clock. I remember this because of a funny story when he got in trouble because he couldn't do slide vibrato, so he started doing vibrato by shaking the horn.

Good post, though. I agree with it. Though it's hard to learn jazz in the shed and not out at jams sometimes (which jazz itself is dying). The secret is to find some good local jazz guys and try to visit their places and in house jams to help you out.

Nick