I neglected to credit the source of the videos that appear on this Web site, so I want to give my sincere thanks to Marty Ashby of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) for agreeing to my use of the seven videos on my Video Page. These clips were taken from a live performance at the MCG, a wonderful non-profit organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that brings music, the visual mechanical arts, and other community activities to the people and city of Pittsburgh. Bringing people together in the most positive of environments, the MCG enriches their lives, by contributing many high quality programs to the city. You can learn more about the MCG at: http://www.manchesterguild.org/indexflash.htm.

MCG is an artistic success story of which we can all be proud.

Alert: Three New Projects

There are three projects that I believe will come to fruition and be released this year. The first is a DVD recorded and videotaped immediately following the Jazz Cruise at Rising Jazz Stars (http://www.risingjazzstars.com). My quartet – including Bill Mays, Rufus Reid, and Ed Soph – was really a tightly-knit group after having performed four concerts in seven days while on the cruise. George Klabin, who founded Rising Jazz Stars, was the owner of Sound Ideas Studios in New York during my studio days. We met and worked together many times during that period. After selling the studio, George moved to Los Angeles and established Rising Jazz Stars as a non-profit organization about two years ago to promote this music through recordings and videos of various Jazz artists. The taping came off marvelously, and I have decided to release the video of this concert either in late spring or in the summer. I will be sure to notify all of you on my Cadenzas list when it is available.

A second release will be a recording of the Inventions Trio - Bill Mays, cellist Alisa Horn, and me. I wrote earlier in 2006 about our having recorded Bill Mays’ composition, “Fantasy for Cello, Trumpet, and Piano” and his arrangements of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” and Debussy’s “Girl with the Flaxen Hair.” We have more recently included four duo pieces, arrangements of music by Scriabin, Bach, Gershwin, and Borodin. We are very pleased that the CD will be released by the recording company to which Bill is signed, Palmetto Records. Again, I will inform you of the CD’s title and availability.

A third CD, which I believe will also be released this year, is the product of the duo concert that I performed with pianist/singer Dena DeRose, about whom I have recently written. (Cadenzas - Edition XXII) This performance opened the 2006 Ancona Jazz Festival in Ancona, Italy, and the recording turned out beautifully. Though Dena and I had never worked together before – never even rehearsed together! – the performance sounds as though we have been playing together forever. Dena is an extraordinary musician, both as a pianist AND a singer! This CD will be released on an Italian label associated with the festival and will be available on both our Web sites as well as distributed by the company in Europe, Asia, and the United States. I am not sure of the release date of this project, but, as with all these projects, I will inform you when they are available.

Fast Track - Jack Cortner NY Big Band

Jack Cortner’s CD, Fast Track, which is available for purchase on this Web site’s CDs page, is to be officially released on the Jazzed Media label in mid-February. Fast Track and leader/composer/arranger Jack Cortner have been garnering a number of truly excellent reviews, and I have put a link on the CDs page taking you directly to the reviews. Just go to the CDs page, scroll down to Jack’s CD and click on the link to the reviews. If you would like to read Doug Ramsey’s excellent CD notes, the link to those appear there as well. Fast Track has sold well from this Web site and has received many excellent and enthusiastic compliments from those of you who are big band fans or fans of mine and the other musicians in this all-star assemblage. I urge all of you to check out Jack’s writing through the audio clips and if you are so moved, purchase a copy of Fast Track. I encourage you to do this so I can begin “bugging” Jack to start writing a sequel to this really fine CD.   :-)

The Jazz Cruise 2006

In late November, the quartet, with wives in tow, flew to San Diego to embark on the Jazz Cruise 2006. We were all excited to be playing four full concerts within the period of a week plus having time to relax and hang out together. Being able to perform so much in a short space of time does not occur too often, so we were “psyched” to be able to be so intensely immersed in our music.

Another benefit to the cruise was the pleasure of having the opportunity to visit with so many of our musician friends also performing on the cruise. This, too, is a rarity because we live all over the country and spend a great deal of our time touring here and abroad. Some of the wonderful musicians on this cruise included the Houston Person Quartet, the Jay Leonhart Trio with Ted Rosenthal and Joe Cohn, the Don Friedman Trio with Martin Wind and Tony Jefferson, the Freddie Cole Trio, and the Monty Alexander Trio.  The all-stars included Ken Peplowski, Bill Cunliffe, Ray Kennedy, and Andy Martin, among others.

Special treats were the marvelous Clark Terry appearing as an all-star, and the performances of the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Clark was, as always, a thrill either playing or singing, and he was in good form. He is such a special human being, and just his presence is enough to stir the soul.

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is special to me for several reasons. First, I love John’s writing. It is original, yet steeped in the tradition of the music; it also is disciplined, yet displays a great deal of melodic and harmonic freedom. John’s conducting is inspirational to watch, and the band plays his music brilliantly. It is obvious how much the musicians love playing with this band; most of them have been members of the group pretty much from its inception. They are all excellent players, and their camaraderie, personally and musically, is quite evident.

The second reason I enjoy the band is the marvelous rhythm section of drummer Jeff Hamilton, pianist Tamir Hendelman, and bassist Christoff Luty, who also make up the Jeff Hamilton Trio. I saw this trio a year ago when on another cruise, and they are truly one of the smoothest rhythm sections in Jazz today - just marvelous! They drive this band with an intensity and enthusiasm that perfectly match John’s writing.

The third reason I love this group is that Snooky Young, a section-mate of mine in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and on innumerable New York recording sessions before moving to Los Angeles, is a regular member of the Clayton-Hamilton band. Snooky’s presence in any ensemble guarantees great “time” and musical conception. When I learned he was also was going to be on the cruise, I was very excited because we had not seen each other in a long while, and this presented us a wonderful opportunity to visit together.

There were other excellent groups and individual all-stars on the cruise, and each presented a different opportunity to enjoy this music. The ship was sold out, and I heard nothing but compliments about the music and musicians from the people on the cruise.

My quartet’s concerts were excellent, each one better than the one before. I know you understand that I say this not to be boastful, but as a statement of fulfillment. The communication between the four of us just seems to grow and expand with each performance. This has been occurring over all the years we have been together. And our joy of playing together is clearly obvious to all; I know this because so many people come up after our performances to remark upon this. Something else they seem to recognize is that we play and sound as a group, not as four individuals. They feel that we almost think as one.

The Jazz Cruise 2006 was excellent in all respects. Anita Berry and her sons put together a a terrific event. If you love Jazz and feel an urge to get away for a while, this is your ticket! I cannot imagine that anyone could possibly come away from one of the Berrys’ cruises without feeling completely relaxed and satiated with the music.

Upon disembarking the cruise, the quartet and wives drove to Los Angeles for our concert the following day at Rising Jazz Stars before an audience of astute listeners. This again was a wonderful concert as detailed in the previous article, “Three New Projects.”

New York Brass Conference/Jazz Improv Tribute Concert

In early summer, my old and dear friend Alan Colin asked if I would perform an evening concert at the New York Brass Conference for Scholarships (NYBCS) Trumpet Day. The concert, to be held at the Lighthouse Conference Center in New York, would take place four days after my return from Los Angeles. Alan told me that the NYBCS and Jazz Improv Magazine would like to pay tribute to my years of working as a Jazz and studio musician. No one had ever suggested anything like this before, and needless to say, I was quite taken aback and humbled such a proposal.

I have known and been friends with the Colin family for many years and have participated in NYBCS events almost from its beginnings. The NYBCS was established by Alan’s father, Charles Colin, who also formed Charles Colin Music Publishing in the 1940s. Alan and Liz Colin worked for many years beside Charlie, and, as Charlie grew older, took over running this well-known and respected publishing company.

Eric Nemeyer, with his fiancée, Jamie Cosnowski, publish Jazz Improv Magazine, in my opinion, the true Jazz publication. This publication is about the music and the musician rather than about the music “biz.” The magazine is a huge quarterly undertaking of over two hundred pages, and they do a fantastic job putting out this periodical. They are an enthusiastic couple who are truly dedicated to what they do.

The quartet for this concert was comprised of me and Bill Mays, bassist Martin Wind and drummer Dennis Mackrel. Dennis plays in the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band led by Slide Hampton as well as other groups like the Carla Bley Big Band; Martin, who leads his own group, is also the bassist in Bill Mays’ trio and also a member of trios led by Dena DeRose and Don Friedman. Both Dennis and Martin are sensational musicians who have worked with me and Bill many times and about whom I have often written in this newsletter. I love performing with these two gentlemen, both of whom are perceptive and sensitive listeners and players.

Louise Baranger, my very good friend and a fine trumpet player, was host for the tribute portion of the concert, introducing Eric Nemeyer and me. Following the introductions and tribute, the quartet played to a large and attentive audience of trumpet players, friends, and fans. We performed mostly “standards,” songs from the American Songbook by such composers as Jerome Kern, Arthur Schwartz, Cole Porter, and Victor Young. Most Jazz fans that I know love these tunes, and well they should love them too, as they were written by some of the greatest tunesmiths and lyricists from one of the most productive periods in American music. It was a marvelous concert, and the audience was enthusiastic in its response. Bill, Martin, and Dennis played superbly as always, and the audience showed great appreciation. For me, it is always a pleasure playing with these musicians whom I greatly love and respect.

My heartfelt “thank you” goes out to Alan and Liz and Eric and Jamie for this very kind and lovely tribute. I am touched and moved by their doing this for me.

New Jersey City University Concert

I was invited by Ed Joffe, Director of Jazz Studies at Jersey City University, recently renamed New Jersey City University, to perform an afternoon master class and evening concert at the university, which would take place a few days after the NYBCS/Jazz Improv concert. I was to listen to three small groups in the master class segment, and to offer them my suggestions for improvement. The concert was to be performed with the university’s faculty rhythm section, comprised of pianist Alan Farnham, bassist Andy Eulau, and drummer Tim Horner.

The three small groups to which I listened - all at different levels of development - were prepared and played well. I enjoyed hearing them play and found, as usual, that most of my comments were musical ones rather than technical ones. In other words, I felt that, like most young musicians, they could have used more dynamics in their playing, developed their ideas at greater length than they had, and concentrated more on building comprehensive solos rather than playing a lot of notes and “licks” that they had learned. This is a typical situation when working with young people, and I almost always advise them that when listening to their favorite musicians, rather than just paying attention to the obvious technical aspects, they should be more attentive to the subtle elements that make a player’s solos interesting or special.

Regarding the concert, I had never played with Alan Farnham or Andy Eulau, but I was quite familiar with their reputations. Tim Horner and I had played together many times, always a pleasure, so I was looking forward to the evening very much. Basically, we talked over some tunes we wanted to play, and though the four of us had never played together before, the music just flowed from the first notes of the concert to the last. These three gentlemen really meld together as a solid group and play with a wonderful intensity and marvelous creativity. It felt as though we had played together for years! What a magnificent experience for me. I had a ball, and would enjoy playing with these guys anytime!

The audience was packed mostly with students, and I think they were really blown away by the music. Ed Joffe was thrilled that so many students attended and that they seemed to take so enthusiastically to what we were doing.

While I know little about this school, I do know it serves many young people who otherwise have little or no financial resources to attend college. I also know only about the Jazz faculty, most of which are adjunct, but I can say with certainty that they are an excellent group of very dedicated and experienced musicians who devote lots of time and effort opening opportunities for their students. These guys are great, and they certainly have my highest respect and appreciation.

Yamaha Master Class

Jon Wittman, Yamaha’s Artist Relations Representative, asked me to be part of a Jazz Trumpet Day at the Yamaha Artists Service Center in New York City in early December. Tiger Okoshi and I were to give one-hour master classes in the afternoon, and Brian Lynch and his group were to present an evening concert. I had arranged with Jon for Mike Holober to accompany me and Tiger in our master classes. Mike is a marvelous Jazz pianist who is also a fantastic composer/arranger. In addition to leading his own band, he is an associate professor at the City College of New York, and was recently named musical director of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. Mike is a very talented person. He knows instinctively how to work in extemporaneous circumstances where one has to be instantaneously creative and flexible.

There was a very nice group of attendees at the afternoon master classes. Mike and I opened with Cole Porter’s “I Love You,” after which I answered questions and spoke with the attendees about subjects of interest to them. These included issues relating to the trumpet, big band and small group playing, improvisation, practice and physical problems related to trumpet-playing. The questions were quite interesting and the time went by quickly. Mike and I closed my master class with Robert Ramirez’ beautiful ballad, “Lover Man.”

I was quite honored that my dear friend Randy Brecker attended both master classes. Because we all travel so much, we seldom get to visit together. It was a pleasure seeing him there. I stayed for a part of Tiger’s master class which I found very, very interesting. Tiger’s approach to creative playing is unique, and I urge any of you having the opportunity to hear him speak and play to do so. He is an accomplished clinician who opens up many new avenues of thought to creative playing.

I had to leave Tiger’s master class before it concluded, for which I had earlier apologized. This was the last day of a visit by my daughter and her family from England, and I wanted to spend as much time with them and my new granddaughter as possible before their leaving to return home. But I hope to be able to get together with Tiger at some future time to learn more about his approach to improvising. I was quite intrigued by all that he did.

It was a lot of fun to do this master class, and I think many of you would also find it very interesting. You can now see it as a podcast on Yamaha’s Web site. Look for it in the Band and Orchestra section or search for it. Yamaha is one company that leaves no stone unturned to educate while promoting quality products. The company certainly deserves a lot of credit for this service to the music community.

A Night at the Kitano

As I have stated many times, I seldom play in New York City (NYC), and if you take the time to read my article on New York Jazz clubs in this edition of Cadenzas, you’ll know why. Yet, there are several NYC clubs that are quite special in that they present excellent music while demanding that respect be shown to the musicians who work in their establishments. The Bar Lounge at the Kitano is one of these places. Gino Moratti, who books the groups into the Kitano, sets the atmosphere here. It is expected that the audiences be quiet while the musicians are performing, while the bar service and waitstaff do all they can to maintain that same quietness. If you have ever been to a Jazz club, you know how rare this type of environment is.

The quartet was booked for a Wednesday night at the Kitano, and, being the beginning of IAJE week for which we were also performing, Ed Soph was going to be in town for this engagement. The Bar Lounge has excellent acoustics and because it is not a large room, musicians, except for the bassists, use no amplification. We love playing in this kind of ambiance because one’s expression of dynamics and the slightest subtleties can be heard without being filtered through a sound system. One’s natural sound and nuances come through clearly. I think the people who come there to hear music must also be struck with the difference from most establishments. I know that when I went to hear Bill Mays’ trio there, this phenomenon came home clearly to me. It was so easy to hear everything, no matter how soft or how subtle.

The crowds were fantastic! More than twenty-five people had to be turned away from the first set; there just was no room! Fortunately, a number of them came back for the second set, which was also filled to capacity. Bill Mays’ wife Judy and my wife Nancy said that for all the people in the room, it was so satisfying that absolute quiet prevailed for both sets. Among the listeners in the first set was Donald Fagan, for whom I had recorded on his recent CD, Morph the Cat. A number of you have remarked about my solo on “The Great Pagoda of Funn.” I appreciate Donald’s coming out to hear us.

Again, the members of this group, so attuned to one another, displayed the essence of what Jazz is all about. They swung so hard on the rhythmic tunes, played with such sensitivity on the ballads and slow bossas, and exhibited the full spectrum of musical and textual colors. Each player’s solos showed such maturity, developing clear, lyrical lines, and making every note mean something. There was not a wasted note throughout the evening. The music was so energetic, joyous, and innervating that at the end of the evening, everyone – player and listener alike – was spent. It was one of those magic evenings. We all left fulfilled and were invited to return in the near future.

The IAJE Conference

We played our set at the International Association for Jazz Education Conference in the Sheraton Hotel’s very large Metropolitan Ballroom two days following our evening at the Kitano. We were fortunate to have a really fine sound crew at our disposal because the only way a trio or quartet can sound good in such a large room is if they have very finely tuned and balanced sound amplification. It is important that the word “balanced” be stressed. We play as a group, and I insist that our sound project that feeling. I certainly don’t want the quartet to sound like a trumpet being accompanied by three other guys.

Artie Friedman, an engineer with whom I had worked many years in the studios and who engineered and mixed Jack Cortner’s Fast Track CD, was our sound person. Artie is a real “pro” who knows what acoustic music sounds like and how to reproduce it in a “live” situation. He also knows my sound, and knows how to bring out the qualities I want. He did all this magnificently! Also, this was all set up by my old friend and producer Zach Schwartz of On Site Recording, the official recording company for the IAJE Annual Conferences.

We opened our set with Ed and me playing alone on Cole Porter’s “I Love You.” Then we continued conversationally with Bill and Rufus joining in after a couple of choruses, shifting it into a higher gear, and setting the pace for all else that was to follow. We performed Bill’s bossa “Lagrima Agradecido,” Rufus’ “Come Out and Play,” Dietz and Schwartz’ “Alone Together,” Johnny Mandel’s “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and closed with “T’s Butter,” my up-tempo takeoff on Sonny Rollins’ “Oleo.”

The group was burnin’! We plumbed the characteristics of each piece and really took it to the max! We started where Wednesday evening left off and went from there. What can I say? It is so difficult to describe all these performances with words. You really had to be there – and I am so glad I was! This band just kills me. As I have said many times, it is as much fun standing in the middle of this group just listening as it is when I have the horn up to my face. Extraordinary! Every gig is a thrill, and the pure ecstasy of our playing together comes through so clearly to everyone in the audience. So many people approached me after these performances to say they could see it on our faces and hear it in the music. I could wish for nothing more – unless it be more and more opportunities for us to perform together and express the music we all have inside. Hallelujah!!

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When on tour, I am often asked about the Jazz scene in New York City and the clubs that feature this music. Most of my work these past 15 years is out of town “on the road,” but when at home I most often do concerts with my quartet, in duo with Bill Mays, or with the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. So though I perform quite a bit in the New York area, I don’t play often in New York City. To a great extent, most of what I know about what’s going on in the clubs today comes from what I hear from many of the musicians I talk with, and much of this really disturbs me.

A few places, mostly the smaller clubs, put a lot of effort into presenting and preserving this music. They do a wonderful job, and for this they are to be extolled. Among these are the aforementioned Kitano, Smoke, The 55 Bar, and a few other small clubs. The larger clubs seem to present whatever bigger-name Jazz artists bring in the most money, and groups that don’t produce right away are not asked back.

Whatever can be said about the business, most club owners aren’t necessarily people who are in it because they love the music, as did Max Gordon, the gentleman who opened and ran the Village Vanguard for many years. Max, who passed away a number of years ago, dearly loved the music and the musicians. He was at the club every night – a true fixture on the New York Jazz scene. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore!

The business today isn’t about the music, but rather about how to make money from it. Being the entertainment center that New York is, tourists from around the world come here to enjoy the Arts. All kinds of music compete for their dollars, and the Jazz clubs want their share of the spoils. I don’t take issue with this fact – we all have to survive – but I do take issue with some of the practices they employ to satisfy their wants at the expense of the musicians. As most musicians will tell you – “the biz just sucks!”

The one thing that bothers me as much as anything is that many clubs no longer allow a group – one that might not be very well known in New York – the time or the opportunity to develop an audience in their venues. The “old way” of doing things was for club owners to work with artists and groups to develop a following in their clubs. Over a period of time this business practice paid off quite well. It might have taken an artist or group a few times around in a club to gather a large audience, but as the people came to know and enjoy those musicians, they looked forward to returning again and again to hear them. This practice gave a group or artist longevity in a particular club and provided audiences with a lasting opportunity to become familiar with the music these groups were presenting.

While working this way took an investment of time, money - and faith - it many times resulted in a significant payoff for the clubs’ owners. It also gave the artists a bit of a “home base” in New York where they could get high-profile exposure and excellent PR. It was a “win/win” situation for all concerned even though, in a number of instances, it was a gamble for the club owner. But that IS what business is all about, isn’t it?

Today you find a radically different picture. Many club owners refuse to take any chances with musicians and their groups, and are rarely willing to expend an effort to develop any kind of working relationship with them. The artist is expected to assume total responsibility; rarely do you find a club willing to share any of the risk. This is a very sad situation, particularly for some of the newer groups or lesser-known artists, because it places many clubs more or less off limits except for an off-night or those times when or if the musician shows a willingness to “pay to play,” a practice with which I strongly disagree. The “pay to play” syndrome is something I don’t remember occurring when I came to New York in 1966. It now seems to have been going on for a good while and exemplifies what I have been writing about.

If an artist or group is new or unknown, some clubs - even the larger clubs - will ask that the artist or group’s record company guarantee that the club will break even. If there is no record company to back the artist, then he will probably have to guarantee this himself. An example of this is something I was told recently by someone close to me about a young saxophonist approaching the booker or owner of a club about bringing his quintet into the club on an off-night. The club agreed to pay the quintet five hundred dollars, but the musician had to guarantee the club attendance by thirty people for their performance – at twenty-five dollars a head, or a total of seven hundred and fifty dollars. If the artist didn’t draw those initial thirty people, the difference had to come out of his pocket. So, in essence, the leader of the quintet had to “pay to play.” Sad! Disgusting!

Certain clubs will have the artists “play for the door,” meaning that the club makes no real investment. The groups play for the admission alone; all proceeds from sales of food and alcohol are kept by the club. But then, some owners even want a percentage of the door in addition to the food and drink receipts. In the end, the investment in the evening is all at the expense of the musicians.

Now here’s a fair proposal: I will work for the door and give a percentage of that money to the club owner IF the club owner will share that same percentage of the money brought in by food and drink. Now THAT would be a good deal! This way, both management and the musicians win.

But as I have already said, I don’t frequent many of the clubs. Since I am on the road a great deal, I tend to spend my spare time around home. That is, I don’t go clubbing as I did when I lived in Manhattan. The club business, like the Jazz recording business, has become all about the money, just like most other things in our country. I find this situation particularly troubling because, to some extent, this is supposed to be about the music.  For the musicians, the whole point of performing IS the music. In the earlier times of the Village Vanguard and the Half Note, this is what it was all about. I knew Max Gordon from my six-and-a-half years playing at the Village Vanguard with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. I also knew the Cantareno family that owned the old Half Note down at Spring St. and Hudson Ave. from playing there with the Duke Pearson Big Band and sitting in with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, and others. These club owners loved the music; it was as much part of their lives as it was the musicians’ lives. That is what “Art” is all about! Those were wonderful times - a great deal of camaraderie and a real feeling of community. I loved it and loved being part of it.

This joy of sharing the musical experience doesn’t seem to exist today. Or if it does, it is the exception rather than the norm. With rare exception, the New York situation is really not much different than in any other United States city. The shame of it all is that most of the people who own or manage these places come from a different place and time in the music business than Max Gordon and the Cantarenos. Nevertheless, and sadly, one must understand that today is today, yesterday is gone. As they say, it’s a different world – and because of this, the club scene today rarely holds any attraction for me.

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After posting Cadenzas - Edition XXIII, I received a most interesting email from John Daniel, a good friend who is also a very fine trumpet performer and teacher currently at Lawrence Conservatory in Appleton, Wisconsin. John’s email was in response to the several articles in Edition XXIII relating to education and the PHD. John is a person whom I respect greatly, and I found what he wrote so clearly stated and so relevant to another side of the discussion on teaching that I asked him to expand it into a guest article. For those of you who are not familiar with John, he has more than twenty years’ experience, teaching college at Abilene Christian University and Penn State University before moving to Lawrence Conservatory in Appleton, Wisconsin, in September 2002.  His vast performance experience includes having played as a sub on Broadway, performing with dozens of symphony orchestras, and appearing as a soloist in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and at numerous universities. John is a member of the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and we have enjoyed performing together with this group the several times I have been invited to play with them. John performs the Karl Husa “Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra” on a new release from the Mark label, Karel Husa Trumpet Concertos.  He writes:

Marv,

I'll be seeing you soon in Battle Creek!

I thought I should weigh in on college gigs, getting them, and the doctorate. There's a little devil's advocacy here, so I hope you aren't offended.

I've been a college teacher for 26 years. I got my first full time job when I was 26 years old and yet to acquire a Master's Degree. Since that hiring, I have acquired a master's degree from the University of Iowa and a type of artist diploma from the University of Michigan. I know I am fortunate to have the career I have, but I also know how and why it happened for me, as opposed to someone else.

When I first started in this profession, I took a job that no one with experience would have considered. It involved being the instrumental music director for a private school, grades 5-12, teaching trumpet, jazz and anything else necessary at the college level, as well as being an assistant band director for the college. After 11 years in that position, the job was just trumpet and jazz. During that time I played every gig I could, including regular work with 5 different orchestras. I was also in a position to hire great artists to work with my students: Allen Vizzutti, Jon Faddis, Ernie Watts, Bill Watrous, Carl Fontana and many others. From that position my career had legs, and I never needed a doctorate to teach at Penn State or Lawrence University.

There are great players out there who look at my gig with jealousy and confusion. Of course I would love to do nothing but play my trumpet and be famous, so it's kind of funny. If I were to quit my gig and move to NYC, which I've considered many times, I expect there would be some major dues and a steep learning curve to confront. I also expect that I would be lucky to make a decent living any time soon. I've subbed on Broadway and subbed as principal trumpet in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, so the issue really wouldn't be one of playing ability. I know I would have to start at the bottom and work my way up, which would be a total drag considering my present status as a college teacher.

Sometimes, the great players want to jump into the top of the college teaching profession, simply because they are great players. Sometimes the great players have very little teaching experience. One of my teachers, Armando Ghitalla, was hired right out of the BSO to teach at Michigan. He told me later that he wasn't always a very good teacher when he played in Boston, and that he was grateful for the opportunity at Michigan to really learn how to teach. He kept playing solos and such, but he was really focused on his students, and it was certainly a blessing for all of us. He cared about each one of us and even took the time to teach most of us how to cook.

The small schools that offer entry level college teaching positions are not often in a position to hire specialists. They want you to have an area of specialization, but they need you to help out in other areas that require academic training. A great player who also writes, arranges, conducts, and has a real talent for teaching has a better chance. But still, would you be interested in teaching Sight Singing and Ear Training? Can you teach french horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba? I did all of that, and much more in my early years as a college teacher. When I was an undergrad I had no interest in public school teaching, but I got a music ed degree because I thought the course content would make me a better musician. I played the flute, clarinet, cello, violin, percussion, etc. for 10-20 weeks so I have a better idea how to write for those instruments and how to play with them in ensemble. This background has been of great benefit to me over the years. I continue to sing and play piano when possible for the same reasons, and I get to play the drums anytime I want since my wife is a percussionist of note.

I grew up in a family of great teachers. We discussed Pavlov at the dinner table. We had vocabulary lessons in two languages every day. We sang 4 and 5 part harmony all the time and even had a Tijuana Brass cover band for awhile.

When I was in 8th Grade, my science teacher asked me to pick a subject and teach the class for a day, which turned into a week. I ended up writing a test and grading it. I had helped my father rebuild an old Studebaker so I taught about the internal combustion engine, and I did a good job.

Another aspect of college teaching that isn't appreciated is the fact that colleges are run by the faculty either with the help of the administration or in spite of the administration. The faculty is responsible for curriculum, hiring to some degree, promotion and tenure, recruiting, and most policy decisions. I asked Jon Faddis last summer what was his biggest challenge or surprise as a fairly new college teacher. He immediately said, “All the meetings and paper work.” Yes, some of it is BS. Sometimes it's all BS. But one bad committee decision can hold a program back for a very, very long time. The last time I chaired a search committee I put in over 500 hours making sure we got the right person.

I used to cringe when my students told me they want to play for a living, knowing it wasn't going to happen for most of them. Like Professor Haynie, now I tend to cringe when they tell me they want to teach, because I have to question their motives.

In a nutshell, teaching involves being sympathetic to the sounds and thoughts of your students, understanding why they sound and think the way they do. The next step involves reverse engineering a path and perhaps several alternate paths out of the confusion and into a clear sense of direction. It takes experience, playing ability, sympathy, and will power. Teaching means being stronger willed than all of your students put together, and it is exhausting. To do all of this and practice enough to grow yourself is a heroic act that can only be achieved with a passion for the whole job, not just teaching, and not just playing.

I’ve watched hundreds of guest artists do their thing at Lawrence University, Penn State, and Abilene Christian. It is quite common for the guest to whine about not having a college teaching gig. Many of these folks do not have the heart or mind of a teacher, and don’t seem to respect the fact that there even is such a thing.

But the crux of the matter, the most important thing I should say, is that we should all be working in the same field for the same reasons. We simply must put aside petty differences and conclude that music is good for the planet and its inhabitants. Great players are teachers by example, for example. And no student’s training is complete unless they have performed on stage with their teacher, in some capacity. Music therapy has proven itself a viable healing force, in spite of the fact that very little musical beauty is ever created in this format. The inner connection to the process of nonverbal communication is of great spiritual value. Art reminds us that we don’t know it all, which opens us up to learning, and every one of us needs to learn. Our egos make us see the differences between music education and music performance, but our souls don’t make that distinction. The best players know they have obligations to the planet, as do the best teachers. It isn’t simply about excellence for the sake of excellence, although there isn’t enough excellence on the planet either. It’s about the destiny of the planet, and the destiny of the inhabitants.

We are either working for ourselves or working for something bigger and more inclusive. That is the most important distinction to make.

Thanks for the soapbox; you can have it back now.