Glenn’s Trumpet Notes

News & Tips for Trumpet & Cornet Students

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Archive for the ‘Selected Trumpet Music’ Category

“Sound Wave” Band Sounds Its Last 2019 Sound Waves—And Sounders FC Are MLS Champs Again!

Posted by glennled on December 22, 2019

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Seven trumpeters, Sound Wave Band, MLS Cup match, Century Link Field, 10 November 2019

 

“You’re the Top!” wrote Cole Porter in 1934 during the Great Depression for the musical, Anything Goes. But there’s nothing depressing in 2019 about the FC Sounders and their terrific Sound Wave Band—both are champs! On 10 November, the Sounders beat Toronto FC, 3-1, and won their second MLS championship (2016, 2019).

IMG_4493 (2)

Trumpet soloist

I was lucky enough to be there at Century Link Field, thanks to my son-in-law and his wife who have season tickets. They bought two extra tickets, and I sat in the third deck with my 14-year old granddaughter. It was spectacular. We rode the Sounders game train to and from Edmonds. The game, the win, the MLS trophy, the celebration, the music were spectacular!

The Sound Wave Band is comprised of trumpets, mellophones, trombones, baritones, and other instruments (mostly drums). They play before, during and after each match. First, they play in Occidental Square, and then they lead the “March to the Match” at Century Link Field. Once there, one hour prior to kick, they play for the gathering fans outside the stadium, typically at the Northwest Bollards. During the match, they sit on the Green Zone beneath the Hawks Nest and perform the Sounders FC fight song, corner kick grooves, and the Sounders Samba. And finally, after the match, they play for 30 minutes on the stadium’s North Stairs. It’s very stirring music, with many solos and almost continuous choreographed movements—all memorized. They’re tops!

Keith Rousu has been the band director for 11 seasons. He is also Director of Blue Thunder (Seattle Seahawks). He’s a graduate of the University of Washington and Seattle University with a Master’s degree in Sports Administration and Leadership. A drummer, he manages the music selection, music arranging, and performance effectiveness.

Sound Wave is available year-round for special performances and events. If you want to join the band, submit your application online at https://www.soundersfc.com/matchday/sound-wave. Annual auditions are held in January.

Please click on any photo to enlarge it.

Before the match

 

 

After the match

Posted in Selected Trumpet Music, Sports Event | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Dire Straits: “They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band”

Posted by glennled on January 17, 2013

dire-straits-sultans-of-swingLately, I’ve been listening again to Dire Straits, a British rock band led by Mark Knopfler. Their biggest selling album, Brothers in Arms, has sold over 30 million copies, and their worldwide album sales exceed 120 million. The band’s career spanned a combined total of 15 years (1977-1988, 1991-1995). Their most popular songs include “Sultans of Swing,” “Money for Nothing,” “Walk of Life,” “Brothers in Arms,” “Lady Writer,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Tunnel of Love,” “Private Investigations,” “So Far Away,” and “Your Latest Trick.”

In the “Sultans of Swing” song, a crowd of young boys in the honky tonk, “dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles,” are drunk as they listen to a band called the Sultans of Swing. Two lines, sung with dripping disdain, catch my ear: “They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band, It ain’t what they call rock and roll…”

Well, now, wait just a minute! You can’t dismiss all us horns. Those boys obviously don’t know their jazz music history and don’t even care about learning it either. No, even though the Sultans of Swing may play some swing music on their rock and roll instruments (guitars, keyboards, synthesizer, and percussion), that’s not the swing music of the great Swing Band Era, ~1936-1944. And all those big bands did feature trumpeters—and some great ones, too!

Want to hear some swing trumpeters from a time long gone by? Try these, for seven of the best:

Yeah, that was then, way back when I was a boy. Today, I also love the “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits even though they trash us trumpeters. But someday, they, too, will be bye-gones, like brown baggies and platform shoes.   😉

Please click on any image to enlarge it.

Posted in Selected Trumpet Music | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Perfect Christmas Gift: A CD of Christmas Music Featuring the Trumpet

Posted by glennled on December 9, 2010

So you like the trumpet and you like Christmas, right? Then put ’em together and either (1) give a CD to someone for Christmas or (2) add a CD to your own Christmas-gift wish list so that someone can give it you. Not just a CD of beautiful Christmas music—make it a CD that features great trumpeters playing great Christmas music!

Through the internet, I’ve conducted an informal poll, asking other trumpeters from around the world to name their favorite Christmas CDs featuring the trumpet. Here are the results (not in priority or genre order):

  • Canadian Brass, “A Very Merry Christmas CD” (2010)
  • Canadian Brass, “Christmas Tradition” (2007)
  • Canadian Brass, “A Christmas Experiment” (2007)
  • Canadian Brass, “Noel” (1994)
  • Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, “Christmas Album” (2005)

    Herb Alpert's "Christmas Album" cover

  • Tine Thing Helseth, “My Heart is Ever Present” (2009)
  • Rick Braun, “Christmas Present” (1994)
  • Chris Botti, “December” (2006)
  • Doc Severinsen, “Christmas with Friends” (1991)
  • Doc Severinsen, “Merry Christmas from Doc Severinsen” (2000)
  • Phil Driscoll, “Heaven and Nature Swing” (2000)
  • Boston Brass, “The Stan Kenton Christmas Carols” (2005)
  • Wynton Marsalis, “Christmas Jazz Jam” (2009)
  • Playboy’s “Latin Jazz Christmas: A Not So Silent Night,” featuring Arturo Sandoval (2001)
  • Al Hirt, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (2000)
  • Harry Connick, Jr., “When My Heart Finds Christmas,” featuring Roger Ingram (1993)
  • Philadelphia Brass, “Festival of Carols in Brass” (1991)
  • Philadelphia Brass, “Christmas in the Grand Tradition” (2010)
  • The Airmen of Note, “Cool Yule” (2009)
  • The Airmen of Note, “A Holiday Note from Home” (2005)
  • Tom Kubix Big Band, “A Jazz Musicians Christmas” (2002)
  • James Morrison, “Christmas” (2000)

If you have a favorite not listed here, please click on “Leave a Comment” below this post, give me the artist and title, and I’ll add it to the above list.

If you want to learn more about these favorites and even listen to excerpts from some of them, simply copy the bulleted item, paste it into a search engine box, and hit “search.” You’ll find lots of results that link you to websites featuring that item in some way.

And I wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, with God’s many blessings!

Posted in Selected Trumpet Music | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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