rafael mendez
JoeGuy
players lately here. i wonder how the group rates rafael mendez, the great
classical player. i heard a clip of this guy playing the haydn concerto and
flight of the bumble bee, and i must say, he was way ahead of his time. his
triple tongueing ability was truly awesome. i have to hear more of him. i
felt his spanish music was very beautiful as well.
ansermetniac
Couldn't play a double c. Totally worthless. And those non-pinched
high notes. What a boob.
Abbedd
________________
Go To Abbedd's Place For the MP3S of the Week
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FDR
Carl Dershem
news:y0Yze.64337$du....@bignews1.bellsouth.net:
I've never heard enough of him to consider any opinion to be worth while.
A few (not noise-free) recordings is all. And, of course, I've never heard
him play live. :)
Any idea who has a good CD or 2 of his stuff available?
cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl
Grey.
JoeGuy
was better than that. if you go to the trumpet stuff website; there are a
couple of vidclips. his flight of the bumble bee was very good; and he could
circular breathe. i had written him off previously- but, i'm thinking
otherwise now.
"Carl Dershem" <der...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:Xns968EA4DFE76...@68.6.19.6...
EF in FLA
> classical player.
He was big time at his peak (70's?), but the rap on him was that he tried to
stay in the limelight way past his prime. Kinda soured his rep. You know,
like those athletes that refuse to retire.
ef
William Graham
"EF in FLA" <bga...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:081Ae.227048$w15.1...@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
From what I've read, he never fully recovered from the accident he had where
someone opened a door backstage, and rammed his trumpet into his lips, and
it took him over a year before they healed. They say he never played the
same after that happened........
William Graham
"EF in FLA" <bga...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:081Ae.227048$w15.1...@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
http://www.trumpetstuff.com/images/Mendez/
JoeGuy
heard worse. i just thought any one who olds made a special model for must
have had some legitimacy. and i've always liked the olds mendez; which i had
bought one before they folded; i like the third valve trigger- but; it lacks
the olds-martin trombone waterkeys.
from what i heard mendez played very stacatto; often with a mute, and, yes,
in a medium range. on the plus side, he was very articulate; and his playing
was very accurate. he recorded some classical work, standard fare; but, very
well polished. he also recorded some spanish standards; i felt, to very good
effect. appearently he delved into some modern jazz, but on a limited basis.
it does seem to me that he practiced his sight reading quite a bit, and was
probably a very good sectional player. he made a good living as a studio
musician. i can't get much more on him, other than i feel he was probably
poorly recorded.
seems to me that his work is currently being re-evaluated by the present
generation. a recent doc severinsen show featured a tribute to rafael
mendez.
"William Graham" <we...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:wrSdnRwgHY4...@comcast.com...
EF in FLA
> mendez.
>
?? Doc has a show?
ef
Carl Tuba
known how to play the right way.
Carl Tuba
sheesh!
Mendez ran in to the door in the 30's. He had a little career after
that.
Doc
> From what I've read, he never fully recovered from the accident he had
where
> someone opened a door backstage, and rammed his trumpet into his lips, and
> it took him over a year before they healed. They say he never played the
> same after that happened........
That has "urban legend" written all over it, just like the "Al Hirt got in
the lip with a brick" story.
Doc
"JoeGuy" <johnsh...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:y0Yze.64337$du....@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
> we've heard a lot about jazz players and swing players, and high range
> players lately here. i wonder how the group rates rafael mendez, the great
> classical player.
I dunno how the "group" rates him, but I feel he's among the all time
greats. Once you get past the mariachi-esque vibrato, he was an amazing
technician.
Doc
> i can't get much more on him, other than i feel he was probably
> poorly recorded.
A lot of his recordings were made in the pre hi-fi era, they were probably
recorded as well as what the technology allowed. For an excellent example
of his playing in hi-fi, find a copy of "The Trumpet Magic Of Rafael Mendez"
MCA records MCA-192. I'm guessing it was recorded in the 50's or 60's. Among
other things it includes the famous and controversial recording of Moto
Perpetuo that apparently was spliced together rather than a single
performance as had been alleged.
Regardless, it showcases some super playing.
John Miller
> That has "urban legend" written all over it, just like the "Al Hirt got in
> the lip with a brick" story.
I was in the Navy, serving as director of the Corry Field (Pensacola)
band at Mardi Gras that year (1970). There was no doubt in any of our
minds that Al had taken a brick in the mouth while atop a float. What
did you hear to the contrary?
--
John Miller
email domain: n4vu.com; username: jsm(@)
William Graham
"Doc" <docsa...@xhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:SUfAe.7902$aY6....@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
facts straight, but I am sure it happened. I just don't know exactly when in
his career it happened....
William Graham
"Doc" <docsa...@xhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:SUfAe.7902$aY6....@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
William Graham
"Doc" <docsa...@xhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:SUfAe.7902$aY6....@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
In 1932, Méndez suffered the first of two, horrific embouchure accidents.
While warming up at the Capitol Theatre, a door was carelessly thrown open,
his trumpet crushed against his face. After studying with several famous
trumpet teachers without success, he returned to Mexico to study with his
father. A year later, Méndez returned to the United States, moved to New
York and joined the band of Rudy Vallee......
Doc
> Check it out here: http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/mendez/shortbio/
Notice the complete absence of any source references. It also makes no
mention of a second "accident".
Mendez had a long career as a concertizing soloist and studio musician, I
have to question how much this incident, if it even happened at all,
affected his playing.
Doc
> In 1932, Méndez suffered the first of two, horrific embouchure accidents.
Makes a good story, anyway. Complete with they-said-he'd-never-walk-again
"Hollywood" comeback.
Show me documented, verifiable medical records and *maybe* I'll entertain
the thought that it really happened.
William Graham
the mouth with a bat, I believe. but this accident was not nearly as
traumatic as the first. With the first accident he was unable to play for
almost a year, and there are references to his attempting to play too soon,
and causing it to be re-infected.....I am still searching for more
information on this. I think I read a book that had his biography in it. I
may still have it somewhere. (My house has a jillion books....My wife is an
avid reader)
Doc
"John Miller" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:das462$r27$6...@n4vu2.n4vu.com...
> Doc wrote:
>
> > That has "urban legend" written all over it, just like the "Al Hirt got
in
> > the lip with a brick" story.
>
> I was in the Navy, serving as director of the Corry Field (Pensacola)
> band at Mardi Gras that year (1970).
Did you personally see it happen?
> There was no doubt in any of our
> minds that Al had taken a brick in the mouth while atop a float. What
> did you hear to the contrary?
Originally from a musical instrument salesman who worked for - (Selmer?
Leblanc?) whoever's horn Hirt was playing at the time, who says he hand
delivered horns to Hirt. According to this guy, the real story was that Hirt
was sauced (big surprise) and had rammed his horn into something and that
Hirt and his people spread the brick story because it sounded better than
"Al was stinking drunk and messed himself up".
I've read other things since then that cast doubt on the validity of the
story - lack of credible witnesses, conflicting stories, implausible physics
for it to have happened the way it was claimed, etc. I'll see if I can find
it again.
I recall that they did a skit on SNL many moons ago, with a "Hit Al Hirt In
the lip with a brick" game show stunt.
Regardless, I think both of these guys were awesome players.
William Graham
I found a better biography of Mendez in the ITG journal of February, 1999 -
here is the URL. Look on pages 7, 8, and 9. - It was a traumatic accident
for any trumpet player to experience.....
http://www.trumpetguild.org/pdf/1999journal/9902lyre.pdf
Doc
> The bios tell of a second accident much later in his career. He was hit in
> the mouth with a bat, I believe. but this accident was not nearly as
> traumatic as the first.
Getting hit in the mouth with a bat was supposed to be *less* traumatic than
getting hit by a swinging door?? Was Mean Joe Green coming through the door
at a dead run?
Something about this just doesn't ring true, particularly if the door hit
his horn, not his mouth directly. It would have had to hit the horn at
close to a 90 degree angle to the centerline of the horn, otherwise the
force would mostly just twist the horn away. What would he have been doing
standing and playing at that angle, that close to a door? That wouldn't be
carelessness on the part of the door opener, it would have been stupidity on
the part of the "standee".
I was sucker-punched full on in the mouth once when I was a kid, just before
band class no less. It was a chore to play that day but within a couple of
days I was fine.
John Miller
>
> Did you personally see it happen?
No, but now that you mention it, what I'm pretty sure of is actually two
separate things: that he suffered an injury to his chops (well
documented), and there was a brick flinging incident while he was doing
the King of Mardi Gras thing on the float (from a N.O. mounted
policeman's mouth to my ears, which isn't infallible, but it might
reasonably be considered reliable). I had never doubted the connection
between the two.
William Graham
so much the initial accident, but Mendez' refusal to quit playing and take
care of himself. First off, he continued to play that gig. Then, he played
on the injury the next few days, until it got infected. I get the impression
that had he just laid off for a month or so, until the injury had healed
properly, he would have been OK, but we will never really know..........
Doc
Since when do you "burn" something with an electric drill?
I had a trumpet teacher once who had a similar "I came back from hell to
play again" story. I learned to take everything this guy said with a large
grain of salt.
Doc
> Doc wrote:
> >
> > Did you personally see it happen?
>
> No, but now that you mention it, what I'm pretty sure of is actually two
> separate things: that he suffered an injury to his chops (well
> documented), and there was a brick flinging incident while he was doing
> the King of Mardi Gras thing on the float (from a N.O. mounted
> policeman's mouth to my ears, which isn't infallible, but it might
> reasonably be considered reliable). I had never doubted the connection
> between the two.
The cop could just as easily been parrotting something he heard too. See
that's the thing about these incidents. Time passes, what was actually seen
& heard gets fuzzy and distorted. I still ain't buyin' it.
Noah Little
>
> Since when do you "burn" something with an electric drill?
Looks to me like a simple mistranslation of 'electric needle.'
--
Noah
Doc
What makes more sense to you?
That somebody had such sure aim that they were able to lob a brick up at a
float (that might have been moving) with such precision that it caught Hirt
square in the chops,
or
that Hirt, well known as a raging alky and in the midst of Mardi Gras
celebrations, on a float (that might have been moving), was shit-faced and
simply stumbled into something?
John Miller
> The cop could just as easily been parrotting something he heard too. See
> that's the thing about these incidents. Time passes, what was actually seen
> & heard gets fuzzy and distorted. I still ain't buyin' it.
And it's O.K. if you don't. :)
As an ex-journalist, I'm pretty familiar with various fact-distorting
phenomena to which both sides of this issue would be susceptible. My
reporter's "gut" tells me it happened. But maybe it didn't, of course.
In any case, I don't have a dog in this fight.
However, there apparently hasn't been much buzz about it being false:
<http://www.google.com/search?q="al%20hirt"%20("wasn't%20hit"%20OR%20"didn't%20get%20hit")%20brick&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8>
--
John Miller
Co-founder, Pensacola Press Club
John Miller
> What makes more sense to you?
>
> That somebody had such sure aim that they were able to lob a brick up at a
> float (that might have been moving) with such precision that it caught Hirt
> square in the chops,
>
> or
>
> that Hirt, well known as a raging alky and in the midst of Mardi Gras
> celebrations, on a float (that might have been moving), was shit-faced and
> simply stumbled into something?
Of course, those aren't the only two possibilities; one that I like is:
3) that some drunk flung a brick in his general direction and connected,
more through happenstance than precision.
William Graham
parade, and it happened to catch Al Hirt in the chops......Accidents do
happen..........
EF in FLA
> so much the initial accident, but Mendez' refusal to quit playing and take
> care of himself. First off, he continued to play that gig. Then, he played
> on the injury the next few days, until it got infected.
So being smart apparently was not a strong suit of his. First he plays in
front of a closed door, then he keeps playing after he's injured. Think
Rafael, think!!
ef
William Graham
"EF in FLA" <bga...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:01kAe.190178$IO.3...@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
Yes. No one ever said that world class musicians had to be particularly
smart.......Even chess players. I saw Bobby Fisher on TV once say that his
IQ was only about 120, and that was good, because people with very high IQ's
get bored doing just one thing, and usually are, "Jacks of all trades", and
not very good at only one. In order to be a chess champion, you need to
study just that one thing, and not spend too much time at other
pursuits......I think that much the same thing applies to musicians.....
JoeGuy
however, how dibilitating it was does come into question. unless he had his
front teeth knocked out, like chet baker, i would have to agree with doc,
that the accident wasn't that severe. maybe he just used the incident to get
out of contractual obligations and go back to mexico for a year? after all,
he continued to record for quite awhile. also, for a trumpet player to
accidentally get hit in the chops with a baseball bat sounds pretty far out,
too. i'm begining to feel that mendez was probably good for his time; but
limited in his musical ability. as i noted before, his, "flight of the
bumble bee," was well polished, and i'm sure he practiced it methodically
until he got it down; and, i do give him credit for that. however, perhaps,
he had a standard repotoire of maybe 20 classical works; and not much more
than that? i would have to hear a lot more to be able to distinguish it.
furthermore; it does appear to me that harry james did play better durring
that period.
as far as al hirt being injured, i had heard it happened at the mardis gras,
however, perhaps i stand corrected. again, the permanent effect of the
injury was marginal. he was back to playing before to long. hirt was known
for high living, and smoked as well as did a good job with the scotch; so
i'm told. it was his overall physical health that declined in the decade
prior to his death. also, when he cut a few CDs, early on in the transition
from vinyl to disc, they were poorly produced; and he was backed by mediocre
artists.
"EF in FLA" <bga...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:01kAe.190178$IO.3...@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
JoeGuy
happened around 1970; and hirt was still playing pretty well in the late
70's. he did a duet with severinsen on, "tonight," around 1975, and i
thought he he sounded fine. doc took it easy on him; and the number came off
fine.
"William Graham" <we...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:-6WdnbAfsb0...@comcast.com...
David
I enjoy reading your posts, but I want to ask you one thing...what's wrong
with CAPITAL letters?
David
William Graham
about the "electric drill" quote.....Here is that message, and his
reply......
----- Original Message -----
From: "Del and Betsy Lyren"
To: "William Graham" <we...@comcast.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2005 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: Mendez' lip injury
> Hi William,
>
> Thank you for email. I am always amazed by the interest and controversy
> generated by some of these things. I must say, that the Mendez
> biography/doctoral dissertation was extremely interesting. It was always
> very difficult to get a straight story from his family. Brothers,
> sisters, and sons seemed to have very different accounts of Rafael's life.
> Many times they directly conflicted with each other.
>
> That being said, the quote that you are talking about was taken verbatim
> from an interview by H. M. Lewis with Rafael himself. So Rafael must have
> said "electric drill" but maybe actually meant "electric needle" as you
> say. In some way, they probably cauterized the abscess to clean it out and
> kill the infection. I don't honestly know for sure.
>
> Just for my own curiosity, in what forum did you see this discussion? I'd
> be curious to take a look.
>
> Incidentally, they are reprinting the Mendez book - this time with more
> photos and other material.
>
> Del
I am in the, "newsgroup" called rec.music.makers.trumpet
and this is where the subject of lip injuries of trumpet players came up,
and was being discussed. We were talking about Mendez' injury, as well as
the one that happened to Al Hirt in New Orleans during a Mardi Gras
celebration many years ago. (He was hit in the face by a brick, I believe)
One of the posters was a bit more skeptical than the rest, and opined that
most such stories were just publicity stunts. I knew that the Mendez injury
was real, but it is possible that it could have been exaggerated somewhat.
The ITG article that you wrote was my authority, and I needed to clear up
the, "electric drill" quote. Newsgroups such as this one are fun and
informative, but they use up a lot of time, and it takes some self
discipline to set them aside and get down to practicing.....
Thanks again for your kind reply......Bill Graham
JoeGuy
always small case. i should go back to using them. many thanx.
"David" <drn...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Fe2dnX3bdtA...@comcast.com...
William Graham
ITG journal.....By now, he and doc have about convinced me that it either
never happened, or it was greatly exaggerated......
Honestly, I do think many of the "old-timers" exaggerated these types of
events. Mendez's sister couldn't remember ever even meeting Pancho Villa,
but Rafael always told the story of his entire family being kidnapped by
Villa and forced to be his personal band. According to Rafael's sister, it
never happened. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if the lip injury at the
Fox Theatre happened, but was exaggerated for effect.
Thanks for the newsgroup website. I'm going to check it out.
Del
Doc
"JoeGuy" <johnsh...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:zAkAe.47607$qm....@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
> furthermore; it does appear to me that harry james did play better durring
> that period.
If what you mean is that Harry James played than Mendez, hell no. James was
a fine technician, probably better than most whose main bread 'n butter was
big band pop stuff, but Mendez was the master. You can see where James fell
a little short on technique in the movie "Bathing Beauty" where he plays
Hora Staccato. His rendition was in the "not bad but not world class"
range. Probably impressive to Joe and Jane moviegoer, but it was muddy.
I'm sure Mendez knocked this number out of the park.
James might be considered a better all-around player as he had jazz chops
and I'm not aware that Mendez really did any true jazz playing, but Mendez
spent all his time perfecting his technical facility.
JoeGuy
that penned the pancho villa story. he simply put 2 and 2 together- and seen
if it would fly.
in any event, you have to give mendez credit for making it at a time when
the industry was largely segregated, and for an immigrent to make a name in
the 30's had to be difficult. i believe mendez first became known working
for xavier cugat. of the websites i've looked at; he was very generous with
his time as a clinician and guest soloist for the high school band circut;
and made a lasting impression on a lot of students.
"William Graham" <we...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:y9-dnQmcVpf...@comcast.com...
JoeGuy
stuff. james was to commercial for me; what i most admired was he tonal
quality- which i still believe was outstanding. after doing the soundtrack
for, "young man with a horn," in 1950, he really never got any better than
that. even though he worked for quite awhile; he was at the top of his form
there. i understand his custom king balanced horn, of which there were only
30 made, had a .473 inch bore...he must have really filled the room with
sound.
"Doc" <docsa...@xhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%qmAe.1562$oZ....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
Alan
cleaner double and triple tonguing, with every note speaking equally.
Try playing his recordings at half speed and compare to your favorite.
I think you will be surprised. His preference of style is not what
most people today are used to hearing. And he rarely if ever was
recorded playing extremely high (though I'm not sure what conclusion to
draw from that)
I wish I had a recording of Mendez playing Carnival of Venice. I have
a small collection of such recordings by various artists. To date, I
have found none that comes close to Herbert Clarke's
renditions--absolutely flawless and amazing. I wonder how Mendez would
fare.
JoeGuy wrote:
> we've heard a lot about jazz players and swing players, and high range
> players lately here. i wonder how the group rates rafael mendez, the great
> classical player. i heard a clip of this guy playing the haydn concerto and
> flight of the bumble bee, and i must say, he was way ahead of his time. his
> triple tongueing ability was truly awesome. i have to hear more of him. i
> felt his spanish music was very beautiful as well.
JoeGuy
amazon.com- including a 10 disc set. i do admire his approach of
articulation vs range; and it has it's value as a technique. i intend to
hear more.
"Alan" <al...@rouses.net> wrote in message
news:1121091998....@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
ansermetniac
>I wish I had a recording of Mendez playing Carnival of Venice. I have
>a small collection of such recordings by various artists. To date, I
>have found none that comes close to Herbert Clarke's
Eddie Munster's is better
Abbedd
________________
Go To Abbedd's Place For the MP3S of the Week
http://home.earthlink.net/~abbedd/abbeddsplace.html
Boycott Inglotted CDS
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"Knowing what without knowing why is not knowing what"
"If Music is important,then anti-Musicality is even more important"
___________________________________________________
"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
FDR
musi...@gmail.com
players? Learn the legacy of great trumpet players. There's much to
be learned from their experiences and from how they achieved what we
are all trying to do.
Mendez was warming up facing the door.
The bell faces out and at 90 degrees if you are standing! Someone
raced into the pit and slammed the door into his chops. He couldn't
play for about a year. He tried to play again but without too much
success. He then saw Maggio and it was those 6 notes that fixed
Mendez. He came back much better with the help of the Maggio System.
He's a hell of a trumpet player. Go get yourself a copy of his CD
titled the Legacy of Rafael Mendez. I have it. Doc speaks about Mendez
on the CD.
Kevin Lee
Musi...@gmail.com
musi...@gmail.com
JoeGuy
for his time. and i find some validity to that fact. i do feel that mendez;
at least in his younger days, was far ahead of his time. he may have been a
medium range player; but others besides him have proven that that can be
very effective. i've always enjoyed maynard's high stepping style as a high
range player; i sat 5 feet away from his bell in 1996, and there is
greatness in the man; and hirt's tongueing was certainly a major influence
on most players in the late 60's through mid 70's
. time has a way of diminishing the facts. a few years ago, chesney baker
was re evaluated as a player; shortly after his death. but, in truth; he had
to go to europe to be able to sell a record. i enjoy his recordings; but as
a player; let's be real; his ability was marginal- even in his day; he was
primarily marketed as a sex symbol. he was more of a singer who played
trumpet to some extent. he couldn't have played, "soul mousaka," if his life
depended on it. miles was an excellent blues player; and i've always loved
his work with charlie parker, but his technique was sloppy. he may have been
in the right place at the right time. a lot can be said for the gil evens
arrangements.
IMO, be it so humble- conte candoli may have had legitimate claims to
being the greatest of the west coast players. an ex thundering herdsman; he
performed with kenton, and on some maynard ferguson kenton alumus albums. he
happily took a backseat to doc severinsen; mostly for the money- but came
into his own shortly before his death. i believe, if one looks at his body
of work, conte should deserve a second look.
"Musi...@gmail.com" <musi...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121142785.9...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
William Graham
He tried to play again but without too much
> success. He then saw Maggio and it was those 6 notes that fixed
> Mendez.
What 6 notes are you talking about?
Doc
"Musi...@gmail.com" <musi...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1121142781.0...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Mendez was warming up facing the door.
> The bell faces out and at 90 degrees if you are standing! Someone
> raced into the pit and slammed the door into his chops.
You're not stating anything different. It's still a logistical unlikelihood.
Reading it again, it makes even less sense than I first thought.
"The orchestra performed on a rising pit. Mendez's seat was by the only
doorway, so he always entered the pit last. He usually warmed up in the
rehearsal room until everyone left, and then took his seat in the pit. One
day, a tardy bass player opened a swinging door and hit Rafael's trumpet
while he was warming up, which caused a laceration through the lip, from the
epidermis to the mucosa..."
Besides that the fact that it was a rising pit is an inconsequential detail,
was he in the rehearsal room or the pit? This is so badly written it's
impossible to tell. If he's in the pit, he's surely sitting down.
It seems unlikely that his horn would be pointing exactly perpendicular to
the door on the X and Y axis at exactly the point where the door would
strike it. Besides that he'd have to be an idiot, it also doesn't jive with
the way Mendez played. His horn didn't point straight out when he played, it
angled downward from the plane of his face.
And if he was sitting down, the pit would have to be built in an impossibly
convoluted way for the door to be facing the trumpet section. This alleged
bass player opened *a* swinging door. Was there more than one? We were just
told there was only one door to the pit.
They're also using anatomical terms a bit loosely. Further, if his lip was
split open, he was done for the night, period, there wasn't going to be any
heroic struggling through the gig.
This just sounds more and more like a story that was told to add a dramatic
dimension.
> He couldn't
> play for about a year. He tried to play again but without too much
> success. He then saw Maggio and it was those 6 notes that fixed
> Mendez.
If he had a medical condition, some trumpet method wasn't going to fix it.
Sounds like more "miracle cure saves career" nonsense. By the way, are you
confusing the Carmine Caruso "magic 6 notes"?
musi...@gmail.com
Gary Badger
an accident too. Stopped him from playing for a long time, needed
surgery on his lip, and had to start playing "from scratch" again.
I just went back to his site seraching to try and back up my story, but
all I could find was lots of photos of him.
Does anyone recall if Paul Cacia had an Al Hirst / Raphael Mendez
experience?
Carl Dershem
news:42d6...@dnews.tpgi.com.au:
The only one I'm sure of is Red Rodney, who had his teeth knocked out over
a bad drug deal, and had to re-learn.
But man, he came out of it a GREAT player!
cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl
Grey.
jc
-jc
Gary Badger
> Bad drug deal, lost teeth, rehab = Chet Baker
>
> -jc
>
I knew there was a Paul Cacia story about lip injury / surgery! At
http://www.r-o-d-d-y-t-r-u-m-p-e-t.cc/cacia.html he tells the following:
#################
Addendum: Chop problems - Trumpet Related Injuries - In depth explanation.
Over the years there have been a number of myth's perpetuated subsequent
to an operation. I thought it might clarify things to set the record
straight. There are no short cuts to playing in the upper register.
On two occasions, while performing on stage, I was struck in the bell.
The first was at "Harrah's" Casino in Lake Tahoe, in 1974. I was 17 and
featured in the middle of the show, upon my introduction I would go out
into the audience, lay flat on my back and perform my high note number,
3 shows a night, 6 nights a week. After the first two weeks the crowd's
prevented me from going out into the audience. The shows were all "sold
out" so I had to perform my solo from the stage, while standing for lack
of room. As I arrived on the final high note the conductor (an over the
top show business kind of cat) threw his arms out to cut the band off
and hit my bell, bending it and placing two deep gashes in my top lip,
with blood everywhere. I will spare you the details. My agent was unable
to break my contract, I was working for the stereotypical Italian cat's
who in those days, well let us just say you didn't argue with, I had to
continue to play and fulfill the engagement another 4 weeks. They were
generous giving me a nice bonus at the end. It took me two months off
the horn to heal leaving two permanent scar ridges forever. I went
directly back to Claude Gordon and after six months I was back working.
Second, I was working a show at the "Roxy" on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood
with a well known rock group, circa 1977.The last night of the last
show, Saturday night, I finished on a double D. The electric bass player
was so taken as he turned he struck my bell with the neck of the bass,
placing a nice V shape into it. And as had happened with the previous
occasion, my shirt was no longer white. Sunday morning I awoke not only
to the terrible pain and swelling but a noticeable structure of torn
tissue. I called Claude Gordon at home, he directed me to find a
maxillofacial plastic surgeon immediately. Wednesday they removed a cist
the size of a pearl, from the resulting trauma of the injury. They
closed the incision with 5 stitches exactly where the mouthpiece lay. It
took me 6 months of weekly visits to Claude, reduced to a pupil again,
to regain my prowess. He started me from square one, The Clarke's
Studies et al.
###############
He then goes on to talk about his hernia surgery, and then dental
surgery.......
I, on the other hand, have never been struck in the bell while playing!
--
Cheers,
Carl Dershem
> jc wrote:
>> Bad drug deal, lost teeth, rehab = Chet Baker
> I, on the other hand, have never been struck in the bell while
> playing!
I have - I was 10, and it resulted in a broken tooth and switching to
singing for the next 4 years. I didn't get back to the trumpet until we
moved to a place with a *terrible* choral teacher.
Robert DeSavage
hot pizza where the cheese ran down my bottom lip and got a severe burn. Hot
pizza = No gigs for weeks.
"Carl Dershem" <der...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9695CDCB75D...@68.6.19.6...
John Weaver
plays about 41 bars -as I recall- in one breath (circular breathing) and a
very good " Hora Staccato" although I always preferred Harry James on the
latter ( in the movie "Bathing Beauty" with Esther Williams and Red Skelton,
to boot. Zircon
<docsa...@xhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:SUfAe.7902$aY6....@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...> news:JJydnZq439S...@comcast.com...
>
>> From what I've read, he never fully recovered from the accident he had
> where
>> someone opened a door backstage, and rammed his trumpet into his lips,
>> and
>> it took him over a year before they healed. They say he never played the
>> same after that happened........
>
> That has "urban legend" written all over it, just like the "Al Hirt got in
> the lip with a brick" story.
>
>