Bill Bell and his Tuba

[brianf]

At ITEC last week, the Harvey Phillips Foundation re-released on CD Bill Bell's 1958 recording "Bill Bell and his Tuba." Here are parts of the cover liner:

In the old days it was a tradition for musicians to refer to the greatest of players on a given instrument as the King! There is no question that among musicians today (1958), William Bell would be enthroned as King of the Tuba. So fantastic are his achievements on this instrument that the professionals who know and understand its difficulties shake their heads in wonder and amazement when they hear him play. He played with the Bachman Band and the Sousa Band. In 1937 he came to New York to play under Arturo Toscanini and since that time has appeared with most of the major orchestras on radio and television. Toscanini declared William Bell the greatest tuba player he had ever heard. Once at a rehearsal the great conductor suddenly stopped the orchestra and called out “Play that again, please!” Mr. Bell looked puzzled and the maestro explained, “No, no, there is nothing wrong. Play it again, please, just for me. I have never heard that passage played with such a lovely tone!” Coming from Toscanini this was adulation of the highest order. Recorded by Golden Crest Records in 1958, "Bill Bell and his Tuba' contains: When Yuba Plays The Rumba On The Tuba (Herman Hupfield); Asleep In The Deep (Arthur J. Lamb & Henry Petrie/W. Bell); In The Hall Of The Mountain King from Peer Gynt (Edvard Greig/W. Bell); Tuba Man (Carr/W. Bell); The Elephant’ s Tango (B. Landes/W. Bell); Mummers (Danse Grotesque) (J. Merle); Carnival Of Venice (Jean-Baptiste Arban/W. Bell); O Isis and Osiris (W.A. Mozart/W. Bell); Variations On The Theme Of Judas Maccabeus (Handel/Beethoven/W. Bell); The Jolly Farmer Goes To Town (R. Schuman/W. Bell); and the following songs not on the original Golden Crest record, Moto Perpetuo (Paganini/W. Bell); Komm Susser Todd (J.S. Bach/Ed Sauter) International Tuba-Euphonium Association; Peter And The Wolf (Sergei Prokofiev) By Harvey Phillips Foundation

During ITEC, I was selling this along with all the other releases by the Harvey Phillips Foundation. I just added this to my web page with fill liner notes at
http://www.windsongpress.com/CD/phillips/bell/bell.htm" target="_blank

Come take a look and listen to Mr. Bell play his version of the "Carnival of Venice."

[eupher61]

Which cover does it have, Brian? I'd assume the b&w shown???

I do have an objection to the listing of "Komm Susser Todd" by the "International Tuba Euphonium Association" It was T.U.B.A. at that point, that's an historical fact.

[Haugan]

Due to the famous photo of Mr.Bell with his King CC recording tuba on the original album cover, few people are aware that Mr. Bell recorded this album on his four-valved King Eb Sousaphone! Mr. Bell was very fond of that particular horn, and used it for solo playing on many occasions, including the only time I was fortunate enough to meet him and hear him play "live". For those in doubt, check out the key of Ab (relative to the key of Eb that one would play on BBb tuba, or the key of F one woud probably adopt on CC) in the "Carnival of Venice". I can't recall if it was Don Butterfield, Herbert Wechselblatt, Ed Livingston or Harvey Phillips that related the story years ago, but I recall it being SOMEONE in New York at the time that was capable of making this little piece of trivia stick for some 30 years in my head.

[brianf]

Harvey Phillips wrote this for the liner explaining why there were two different covers:

Early on a cold wintry Friday morning in February 1957 I received a telephone call from my teacher and mentor William Bell. He told me his solo LP recording for Golden Crest Records was scheduled for release, and that a photography studio was reserved for the next day, Saturday at 10:00 a.m. He asked if I had a decent looking recording tuba he could borrow, that his tuba had lacquer missing and wouldn’t do for a cover photo. I told Mr. Bell I had just received notice that a new Martin tuba I had ordered with both upright and recording bells was due for delivery Monday morning.

I called the warehouse shipping clerk and arranged to pick up the instrument before 7:00 p.m., saving them a delivery. Carol met me at Webster Hall on 11th street where I was recording until 5:00 p.m. We drove over to Jane Street by the Hudson River to claim the new tuba. So we could fit everything into our Buick convertible we had the warehouse crew help unpack the tuba and two bells. The three large boxes and wood shavings were stuffed into huge oil drums and set afire. As we drove off I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a spectacular sight of windblown sparks as high as 100 feet. Carol and I couldn’t believe what we were seeing. As soon as we arrived home, I notified Mr. Bell that we would deliver the tuba tomorrow in time for the photo shoot. Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. we met Mr. Bell at the photography studio across from the Radio City Music Hall 51st Street stage door. A number of color photos were taken with the new Martin tuba and was chosen for the new record jacket.

When the LP was released, it created quite a stir at the H. N. White Company, manufacturer of the King brand tubas, advertised as the exclusive choice of tuba artist William Bell.

Sunday I received a telegram from Martin Company President Fritz Holtz advising me that my new Martin tuba had been destroyed in a warehouse fire and would be replaced as soon as possible. I had the pleasure of calling Fritz and telling him the tuba was safe.

The second issue of “Bill Bell and His Tuba” featured a black and white photo of Mr. Bell standing with his King tuba.

By Harvey G. Phillips