Roger Bobo Milestone

[Northern]

There are not many who have done it. He was not the last but he absolutely was the first. This is the 50th anniversary of the first tuba recital in Carnegie Hall. Congratulations to Roger Bobo who, for many of us, changed the way the tuba would be forever. All the best, Roger. You are a hero. Cheers, Gene Pokorny

[Ken Herrick]

And, probably the first, if not only one of whom Jake said, "He came to me for lessons but, there was nothing for me to teach him, he already had it all". Certainly one of the all time greats.

[J.c. Sherman]

A giant in our world... we all owe him for raising the stature of our axes.

[J.c. Sherman]

Agreed. At least for me as a young musician, the prototypical tubist. I still have his sound in my head. I still have not heard his playing matched in many ways.

agreed. A handful of tuba players have been able to play as quickly, but none quite as cleverly.

Very, very well said.

[Timswisstuba]

Had lunch with the Maestro Bobo last Saturday in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is still as clever and as musical as he has always been.

There are few who have influenced lives in a way that he has.

[Timswisstuba]

Hey Army Conference folks,

Could you please ask him back for 2011 to do a lecture, and to perhaps play/comment on some of his (perhaps never released) solo recordings ?

Hey Bloke,

You should drive up to Quèbec to see him at Domain Forget in June. After all that has happened in Japan, he is heart sick having not been there while it happened. He doesn't want to travel so much anymore.

[Timswisstuba]

"Well that shows just how over qualified and under unitized he really was in the LAP."
“He just wasn't very happy at that time in his life. Can you imagine being that far
above the literature you have to play every show?”

Very few careers can substitute for a good life.
I am told that Mr. B now has a good life. I hope so.
He deserves it.

Yes, playing in orchestras was not fun for him because he is above the music and he was always happiest when playing solos. He never liked teaching orchestral excerpts. Everything that I learned from him, I use everyday.

Moving to Europe was a welcome change and challenge for him in which he advanced well. Now he's in Japan with new challenges and is happy with his life in Tokyo. There are few tubists that have travelled and done as much as Mr Bobo.

[TYA]

I was just wondering but when Roger Bobo did this recital was it all memorized?

[Mojo workin']

Yes, playing in orchestras was not fun for him because he is above the music and he was always happiest when playing solos.

Huh?

Overstatement.

One of the finest tuba soloists of all time, yes.

Not above the music. Maybe above the job (LAPO), not the music.

[TubaRay]

Hey Army Conference folks,

Could you please ask him back for 2011 to do a lecture, and to perhaps play/comment on some of his (perhaps never released) solo recordings ?

Perhaps 2012 might be a better choice. I think we should wait until next Jan.(just playing w/you).

[Steve Marcus]

By now, there have been many recordings and innumerable live performances of Penderecki's Capriccio. A good friend, who is an excellent tubist, actually performed Capriccio live FOR THE COMPOSER and his comments. It is not my favorite piece, but it is undeniably a very significant one and a landmark in our tuba literature. So the comment to follow is not about the "authenticity" or "composer's intentions."

Yesterday, while working out on an elliptical machine, I was listening to one of Roger Bobo's recordings on my headphones. When the recording reached Capriccio, I was struck by the purity, the precision, and the singing quality of Mr. Bobo's playing. The Capriccio may or may not be one of Mr. Bobo's personal favorites, either. But he made it his own, playing with the care, sweet tone, and expression of one who felt that every individual note was important while maintaining a sense of gestalt about the piece. It's one of the few if not the only recording of the Penderecki that would be received very positively by non-tubists' ears.

Bravo, Maestro.

[tmmcas1]

For my money nothing demonstrates better Bobo's sheer control over the entire instrument than his playing on "Saturnalis". Not sure if anyone is really "above" anything in music but holy god he plays the s**t out of this (and everything he played for that matter):

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rainbo ... d357725532

[GC]

Does anyone know the name of a Bobo solo album that began with the Hindemith sonata and also included Morning Dance? I heard it in 1970 in the music library of my college while studying for a lesson; I was trying the first movement of the Hindemith, and this recording was the only one I found.

[ScottM]

The first Bobo recording is called Roger Bobo & tuba play Galliard, Barat, Kraft, Hindemith, Wilder with Ralph Grierson, piano
It is Crystal Record #s125.
It is the recording that made me believe that tubists could be musicians.
I still have my copy. I listened to it a lot when working on the Hindemith for a recital many years ago.
He performed the Galliard and the Barat on F tuba and the balance on the CC.
He played Mirafones at that time. You can almost read the serial number on the horn on the record cover.
ScottM

[nimrod480]

Does anyone know of the repertoire of this specific recital?

[Toobist]

Does anyone know of the repertoire of this specific recital?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsptspom12j07 ... ecital.jpg

This might be what you're looking for.

[nimrod480]

This is great!
Do you have any other information about early recitals programs? or some of the reviews for these concerts?

Thank you so much!

[Chris Horsch]

Not technically a review of the Carnegie Hall concert, but in reaction to a headline in the New York Times to the effect that "Roger Bobo Gives Recital On Tuba," none other than John Updike memorialized the concert for a wider audience with a poem entitled Recital:

Eskimos in Manitoba,
Barracuda off Aruba,
Cock an ear when Roger Bobo
Starts to solo on the tuba.

Men of every station - Pooh-Bah,
Nabob, bozo, toff, and hobo -
Cry in unison, "Indubi-
Tably, there is simply nobo-

Dy who oompahs on the tubo,
Solo, quite like Roger Bubo!"

The poem has been neatly set to music for chorus accompanied by piano and tuba, a couple of renditions of which are on YouTube (search Roger Bobo).

As a green 14-year-old in 1956, I had the wonderful pleasure of being in the tuba section of the High School Band at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, of which Roger was first chair and remarkable leader. He was other-worldly amazing then, and the image remains.