Your top 5 Tuba CD

tubacorbin · Post by **tubacorbin** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:37 pm

In no particular order

Tim Buzbee - Angles and Demons

Velvet Brown - Velvet

Benjamin Pierce - Pierce Plays Bach

Roland Szentpali - On My Way

Roland Szentpali - Parallels

humphrey · Post by **humphrey** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 6:51 pm

+1 for the Fletcher CD...... It's called "Best of Fletch" & is available here......... http://www.johnfletcher-tuba.co.uk/thecd.html Stunning playing, both solo & with the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. Actually I think the PJBE Greatest Hits album should be required listening for any tuba player who works in brass chamber music.

Les Neish "Salt of the Earth"....... Classic & contemporary works played by a player who should be more widely known....... Lyrical playing, technique, Gobsmacking range & control. Best of all, it's got some cracking tunes on it.

TGB (Tuba, Gitarre, Baterie) ..... A jazz trio featuring the incredible Sergio Carolina. Played live with no overdubs..... Glorious, joyful playing & worth it for Lily's Funk alone!

Tuba Tracks by Gene Pokorney is a joy to listen to. Just beautiful MUSIC played by a master.

+1 for Oystein Baadsvik "20th Century Tuba Concertos. It's got the RVW concerto, the John Williams Concerto on it but my favourite is the Arutiunian. I'd never heard of it until I got this album & absolutely love it.

Honourable mentions to............. Les Neish again for "Shine" (voted best tuba recording at ITEC this year). Steve Sykes for "Basso Bravissimo". Pat Sheridan for "Blazing Brass". Pretty much anything by Oystein Baadsvik, "Tuba Carnival" & "Danzas" being great starting points. John Fletcher "Le Tuba Enchantee" which I got on import from Japan. Walter Hilgers recording of the RVW concerto. Joseph Cook "Debut" (Tuba soloist from Black Dyke Band). Erik Gjerdevik "Erik the Viking", I got my copy from ebay & it's got some INCREDIBLE playing on it.

There are some great cds out there but those are my favourites. I acknowledge it's a bit "Eurocentric" but that's where I'm from!

Cheers

Russ

Tubaguyry · Post by **Tubaguyry** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:58 pm

Floyd Cooley - A Schumann Fantasy

I'm always just stunned when this CD isn't mentioned on lists like this!

If you haven't heard/don't own this CD, you are REALLY missing out. Floyd's playing on the album sets the lofty standard to which I compare my and all other tuba playing.

Buy it!

Pearl01 · Post by **Pearl01** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:35 pm

Lars Andreas Haug- Vinterfjøs

Great album, especially the track Gjøvik. Simply beautiful playing. I'm sure it can be listened to online somewhere.

luke_hollis · Post by **luke_hollis** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:19 pm

I am sure this will go over like a lead balloon, but I wouldn't put any tuba solo CD in my top 5 tuba CDs because I don't really think the tuba sounds that good as a solo instrument.

I much prefer tuba in the orchestral or band setting. My top recording (as of late) is

Mahler Symphony No 6, CSO by Haitink.

So there.

Release the dogs....

circusboy · Post by **circusboy** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:25 pm

In no particular order:

Roger Bobo's Bobissimo!
Tim Buzbee's Buzzed
Bob Stewart's Then & Now
Michel Godard (and Pierre Favre) Deux
William Roper (with Francis Wong and Bobby Bradford) Purple Gums

Honorable mentions:

Jozsef Bazsinka's Waves
Eli Newberger (and Jimmy Mazzy) Shake It Down

Trumgottist · Post by **Trumgottist** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:02 pm

luke_hollis wrote:Release the dogs....

No need for dogs. You are of course entitled to your opinion (taste is a funny thing - I'm generally not a fan of hard rock, myself), but your post does make me wonder about what tuba solos you have heard. While I like it myself, I can understand why people would dislike really low stuff (I don't have a tuba example in mind, but I have a CD with contra bassoon duets - it's awesome, but it gets a bit noisy and rough, as low instruments do). But it's harder for me to imagine someone disliking, say, Ferry Tales. Let me restate that I have no problem with you having your opinion. I'm just having trouble understanding it.

-

I'd also like to thank everybody for all the suggestions in this thread, several of which I haven't heard of either CD or even tuba player. I'm looking forward to getting to know some of them!

luke_hollis · Post by **luke_hollis** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:33 pm

Trumgottist wrote:"...Let me restate that I have no problem with you having your opinion. I'm just having trouble understanding it.

Some tuba solo CDs are hard to get through to say the least. Take Big Boy from Gene Pokorny. Unbelievable player with remarkable sound and musicality in the orchestral setting, but I find the disc almost unlistenable. The music is obscure and it seems like a strain to play. Another example is the Floyd Cooley Schumann Variations. While more tonal and interesting, it to me highlights how much the tuba is not a solo instrument. Awesome player, very musical and a great performance. 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.

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:02 pm

UncleBeer wrote:I've always liked those "Howard Johnson & Gravity" CDs. No accounting for taste though.

You mean 'that', not those, right? Or do you have some in your closet?

UDELBR · Post by **UDELBR** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:08 pm

eupher61 wrote:
UncleBeer wrote:I've always liked those "Howard Johnson & Gravity" CDs. No accounting for taste though.
You mean 'that', not those, right? Or do you have some in your closet?

There's two of 'em:

- http://tinyurl.com/c23wjl8" target="_blank" target="_blank

and

- http://tinyurl.com/cel7ozy" target="_blank" target="_blank

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:27 pm

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

Trumgottist · Post by **Trumgottist** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:58 pm

luke_hollis wrote: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 · Post by **T. J. Ricer** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:56 pm

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 · Post by **tclements** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:30 pm

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 · Post by **jwjeffrey** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:38 am

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 · Post by **David Richoux** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:14 am

eupher61 wrote: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!

UDELBR · Post by **UDELBR** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:43 am

David Richoux wrote: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 · Post by **David Richoux** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:54 pm

UncleBeer wrote:
David Richoux wrote: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.)

UDELBR · Post by **UDELBR** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:03 pm

David Richoux wrote: 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 · Post by **David Richoux** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:19 pm

UncleBeer wrote:
David Richoux wrote: 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.

TubeNet

Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD

Re: Your top 5 Tuba CD