The Man, the Myth, the Legend…David Taylor. Taken during this week’s recording sessions with the Washington Trombone Ensemble.
I recorded this a while ago, October I guess, and forgot that I put it up on YouTube. I’m sorry about the poor video production, but I just threw some pictures up. I think it took me longer to get the video uploaded than it did to record. I have a friend working on a full concert length version for trombone ensemble based on Dr. Who music, it should be pretty epic.
Rolling Thunder - slide rolled right off the stage
(to be fair to the poor Marine, it was equipment failure and not a dropped slide, but what is almost more fun is Ian Bousfield’s reaction a few seconds later, he’s to the right a few people).
The Eastern Trombone Workshop starts tomorrow, you can listen live via the webcast found under the schedule page. Lots of amazing things going on all 4 days.
"Don’t forget, musical deficiency is also a technical problem."
— John Swallow, legendary trombonist formerly of Yale University, the New York Brass Quintet and the Chicago Symphony
I had the privilege of premiering this piece this past weekend. It is a powerfully moving piece and you can hear about the story behind the music from this interview. The piece begins with senior african americans processing into the hall playing polyrhythmic bells. As they reach the stage, they are met by a younger group of african american percussionists and they hand the bells to them and they take up a more vibrant pattern. The percussionists dance off to the side of the stage and they get quieter and end so that a narrator can speak about Fortune. The bells begin again and then the music is taken up by the trombones, 4 trombones entering sequentially with a minimalist polyrhythmic pattern. It’s great music and the composer scored for 2 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, one contrabass trombone, and tuba. The trade off from african drumming to the trombones was symbolic, at least that’s how I saw it. Of all the instruments in the orchestra, I think the trombones could best relate the pathos of this story. They did record this concert and it may be broadcast on PBS, I’ll be sure to post a link if that happens.
Taken from a set up by National Symphony bass trombonist and punch line by St. Louis Symphony principal trombonist.
Here is a teaser video I pieced together for our premiere CD “The Road Not Taken.” I took some pictures taken by Chris Branagan during the sessions and used audio samples from the final product. I hope this gets you all excited about helping us get this CD to the market, so don’t forget to go on to kickstarter after you listen. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1179301370/washington-trombone-ensemble-cd-the-road-not-taken
