Brass Chats

In our interview, Jim Pandolfi offered us the 'Red Pill' of trumpet pedagogy. You might *think* that you know correct trumpet playing technique... but after you hear what Mr. Pandolfi has to say, you might start to question EVERYTHING you've been taught before. Watch the interview and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

The master of trombone talks about his life growing up in a household of musical influences, his challenges and breakthroughs in regards to playing trombone, and...his dream car.

Today we're sitting down with Phil Snedecor who teaches at the Hart School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut and he has played with pretty much every kind of ensemble you can think of including the Baltimore Symphony, the National Symphony and the Washington Symphonic Brass.

In our candid talk with trumpet legend, Arturo Sandoval, he reveals the #1 key to mastering improvisation, his amazing perspective on life's challenges, and... whether he prefers brunettes or blondes.

We bet lubes to doughnuts that you've never seen Chameleon played on a cornetto before  this. We'll even give you 12 to 1 odds. So...you know...if we win, you have to buy 1 bottle of valve oil from us, and if you win, we have to buy you a dozen doughnuts. In fact, you'd probably buy yourself the dozen doughnuts anyway because you can't be trusted around doughnuts. We understand. Once you go get your doughnuts, return right here and eat them in front of this month's Brass Chat, which (if you couldn't tell from the above link) was clearly one of the coolest subjects we have ever had. The guy is a genius and it was immensely enjoyable hearing his perspectives on life, music, trumpet, and tennis. Here ya go.

Word association time! You know how it works; I say a word, and you respond with the first thing that jumps to mind. Examples: Peanut Butter? Jelly. Star? Wars. Opera? She dies at the end. Okay...so....Louis Hanzlik? American Brass Quintet, Aspen, Juilliard, UCONN, Columbia Teacher's College ...yep, the list goes on. Today, it only takes 27 minutes and 14 seconds for you to become a better musician; what are you waiting for???

Adding handsomely to our stockpile of famously accomplished and otherworldly-good trumpet players in our Brass Chats Interview collection, this month we snared Tom Hooten, who sits in the principal trumpet chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. We were super lucky that he had time and energy for us (boy did he!) as the LA Phil swung through New York; the result was one of the most information-rich interviews we've done so far. From warming up and routine to excerpts and chops and beyond, Hooten spills it, and we all get to collect it—thanks to another worthy installment of Brass Chats. Enjoy!

You heard him for years with the Brecker Brothers, you saw him tear up the town in Stoplight Jazz. Now join us for a swim through the inner workings of the mind of trumpet legend, Randy Brecker! We hung with Randy and his cats (animals, not jazzers) at his pad in Montauk, NY, and covered fundamentals, learning to improvise, great stories about all the famous cats (jazzers, not animals) he's played with, the legacy and history of the Brecker Brothers, and much more!

David Krauss, principal trumpet of the Met Opera Orchestra in NYC, had a lot of great stuff to share: stories about taking lessons in Wynton Marsalis' apartment...an unfortunate and unmentionable pogo stick injury, his favorite place to play trumpet, and a few great stories—like the time he almost missed the biggest solo in opera right after he was hired. ...Also, pastrami. Lots of pastrami. Come hang!

So Vlad Lavrik is the principal trumpet of the Russian National Orchestra; he plays a mean horn and is actually a very fine conductor as well, and is exploring this passion very frequently at work and elsewhere. He being his fully Russian self, and us being us, we wanted to think of some funny things to bring up. Turns out, we're not that funny—but we did ask if Vladimir Putin knew where Mr. Lavrik was. He said no...BUT: we saw his FB feed about a week later, with a video of him receiving a special award for the Arts in Russia...from VLADIMIR PUTIN. Moral of that story? ...Vladimir Putin watches Brass Chats. How about that!

You wouldn't know it, but don't be fooled by his mild-mannered, well-temperamented exterior; but Jim Wilt? Associate Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic?  That guy is MAD at you. He told us, in this interview. We're talking really, really angry. Especially because of that time you met him at an audition. You may not have noticed at the time, but he was literally quivering with rage, speaking every single syllable through clenched teeth, furious at every word. Just needed you to know that.

Quiz time: which number is bigger: number of calendar years A.D., or number of movies Malcolm McNab has played on? ....I'll give you a hint: the answer is the part about the number of movies. Give up? No, I'm sorry—we were looking for "the number of movies Malcolm McNab has played on, which currently stands far above 2000 and is certainly more than I can even begin to fathom." Nice try—here's a consolation prize: a great interview with Malcolm McNab! Welcome back to Brass Chats.

LA Studio and Jazz player Carl Saunders has been described as "the best trumpet player you've never heard of." Well, we hope to change that with this month's Brass Chat because he's ridiculous. The guy can do anything with a horn, was generous with his time and talents, and plays a lot of trumpet during this interview, which was a real treat for us; hearing Carl solo is like...uh...pouring melted chocolate into a glass of red wine, them mixing that with honey and pouring it over some ice cream or something. It's a terrible analogy, just ignore us, you're not here for the blogging skills anyway; just believe us when we say that he is good at soloing. Welcome to sunny California for this month's installment of Brass Chats!

You asked for it? You got it: Here's the three handsomest members of Monster Oil, giving you an inside look at their streams of consciousness as they test themselves during the Monster Round. So many of you asked for this we had to do it. Our inbox was overflowing. For weeks on end, maybe months, all communications to us were along the lines of "sure, it was nice to hear Ray Mase's thoughts on what makes a great student, and yeah, listening to Mike Martin tell stories about his early Boston Symphony days was good, but what I'd really like to see is more of you guys asking each other stupid questions and giving stupid answers in return." ...well, your wait is over—so you can stop emailing us about it now. We hope that you, our adoring public, enjoy this rare offering. Cheers!

Go to college. Graduate. Win job immediately. Win bigger job immediately. This is more or less the musical equivalent of the LeBron James career track, followed in this instance by the phenomenal Ethan Bensdorf, who made the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra the Cleveland Cavaliers of the Orchestral World by taking his talents to the Big Apple, where he's now second trumpet for the New York Phil. Easy-Peasy, Lemon-Squeezey. Touching on topics ranging from his unconventional teaching style to what it was like to sit next to Phil Smith, this is an unmissable Brass Chat for sure.

This is the Brass Chats Interview you watch if you want to pick the brain of a man who likes hats, likes music, has an INSANE historical instrument collection (in the video, don't worry), provides musical goods and services to the greatest musicians in New York (and the rest of the country), and has built a multi-million dollar musical operation from scratch with nothing but his bare hands, ingenuity, and elbow grease. One of the most interesting guys alive today: Steve Dillon, owner of Dillon Music! Only on Brass Chats. Also Joel plays his best Herseth impression on a Mel Broiles' old piccoliccolitissimito trumpet.

Charlie Schlueter, principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for an iconic 25 years, now enjoys a quiet retirement at his home in Massachusetts. ...except for when three fools like us come pounding down his door demanding to be seen and asking him a bunch of rude questions about how to get better at trumpet. Fortunately, he acquiesced to these aforementioned demands and we scored an hour of knowhow out of this trumpet giant. Someday, we'll be back for more—you can talk to this guy all day. Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/197464482

TUBA great Mike Roylance joins us this month! He's principal tubist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, played with our very own Tom Brown when they were both in the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and has an instrument rating. Find out why that has absolutely nothing to do with music—and many more tips, tricks, stories, and more—on this month's Brass Chats!

Two things to learn about Mark Gould, if you don't already know them. 1: He was principal trumpet of the Met Opera for an absolutely staggering 29 years; and 2: He's a man that says what he means, and means what he says. This makes for a veritable storm of interestingness constantly surrounding him, from his side project Pink Baby Monster (performances sometimes usually NSFW), to running for president in 2012, to his students' total infestation of the professional trumpet scene (obviously in large part wrought by his teachings), and NOW—to one of our best Brass Chats yet

https://youtu.be/hSHoUk0eTWM

Mike Martin is known primarily for his snappy style of dress, dashing good looks, fine taste in shoes, and golfing habit. He spends his free time playing trumpet for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, working with DCI's The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps, Composing, and a whole bunch of other crap. The guy is just everywhere—but somehow, someway, we nailed him down for a couple hours for an interview for Brass Chats.

Karin Bliznik is a boss. There's not much more to say than that. We were late to the interview (weather), had to smooth-talk our way into using an empty room in a really, really fancieiye hotel room for the interview, and had to make sure that we got Karin on her way with enough time to get to Carnegie Hall so that she could make Tchaik 4 and other stuff sound really easy; despite all of these parameters, she came through with one of our best Brass Chats Interviews to date. We hope to snag her again in the future for some more chatting, because this one wasn't long enough—but for now, you'll just have to watch this and like it.

Ray Mase has taught trumpet to every professional trumpet player alive and employed today. It's a fact, look it up. You'll find it on the Internet. ...actually you just found it on the Internet. There, just then. You're on the Internet. You know what else is on the Internet? A whole bunch of sweet, sweet trumpet knowledge from a guy that, according to Juilliard, is qualified enough to teach all the talented (okay, fine, AND hardworking) little freaks passing through its hallowed halls since 1987. A TON of that trumpet knowledge is right here---in Brass Chats Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Leroy Jones doesn't get nearly the recognition that he deserves. Here are some links, so that YOU can start to recognize him. He's better than you (obviously), and us (double obviously) and therefore you can learn a lot from listening to his playing, and you can get even further inside his head by listening to his Brass Chatting.

Peter Bond has been playing trumpet for the Metropolitan Opera (New York) since its inception in 1883. Since then, the Met has grown to become the largest classical music organization in America, and is unarguably one of America's national artistic treasures. We prodded Pete for his accumulated wisdom from the past 133 years, and more importantly, found out who his favorite superhero is. Bet you won't guess it! ...also this interview barely happened: as we were finishing up the Monster Round, an NYPD cop comes over and tells us "hey, you can't film here without a permit." You might not believe us, but all four of us shouted in unison "YEAH WHATEVER MAN WE WERE ALREADY DONE SO TOO BAD FOR YOU, GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT" and kicked over a trash can and ran away. It was so rad

Denver Dill, bugler in the Hellcats (the West Point Band's field music group), sits down to shoot the breeze on overcoming a lip injury, performing modern works for trumpet, and—of course—a Monster Round for the ages.

Josh Landress, owner of J. Landress Brass in Manhattan, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, USA, Earth, master repairer and instrument craftsman, sits down with the Monsters and straight up gets what's been comin' to him for a long, long time.

If you're the principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, you play trumpet like a boss. But who is Tom's biggest musical influence? This answer and more below.