July 24Jul 24 Popular Post For the better part of a year in the late 1970s you couldn't miss this tune on radio. I actually met him once, as he went to college with one of my horn teachers so we went to a big outdoor concert west of Chicago. Nice guy.
July 24Jul 24 Dammit. Wore this LP out back in the day. As an up and coming trumpet player, Maynard and Chuck were on my turntable constantly, trying (and usually failing) to play along. Rest in peace sir.
July 24Jul 24 Author It's funny, Maynard & Chuck were the two biggest influences on almost every young trumpet player back then and yet they could not have been much more different. Both very talented, but Maynard was a screamer jazz-rock guy and Chuck was so smooth he might as well have been lumped in with the yacht rockers.
July 24Jul 24 14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said: A little old school drum corps in tribute: Just saw that as well, yeah, very cool. That was always the true end of summer for me, catching the DCI finals on PBS.
July 24Jul 24 Author 1 minute ago, UTCzech III said: Just saw that as well, yeah, very cool. That was always the true end of summer for me, catching the DCI finals on PBS. Those shows were what led me to join Phantom for about a minute and then switch to Cavaliers.
July 24Jul 24 Just now, Longhornstampede said: Goddammit if Herb Alpert goes I'll be really pissed off! God damn you. He's coming to Austin, he better not! (Side note, what a glorious time that was for trumpet players, Herb, Maynard, Chuck, Chicago, BS&T, EW&F-I remember one year at jr high band camp, yeah I know, at TLC in Seguin, some guy in our dorm had the sheet music to "Got To Get You Into My Life" with the trumpet parts, we all made copies on those old xerox machines with the super slick copy paper, still have it tucked away somewhere.. even outliers like the Freddie Hubbard solo on "Zanzibar" and Singers Unlimited, check out their version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" if you've never heard it, killer...)
July 24Jul 24 7 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said: Those shows were what led me to join Phantom for about a minute and then switch to Cavaliers. I was in band in HS and always went to the late July event in San Antonio. Loved watching the drumlines warm up and really enjoyed those early 00's Cavaliers and Blue Devils shows. Edited July 24Jul 24 by Pam Cummings
July 24Jul 24 Author 5 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said: I was in band in HS and always went to the late July event in San Antonio. Loved watching the drumlines warm up and really enjoyed those early 00's Cavaliers and Blue Devils shows. BD was basically an NBA team playing against Austin High.
July 24Jul 24 This week don't feel so good. 1 hour ago, Underdog said: Feels so good and Rise were the jams for me. Rise is a criminally underrated jam that should be on every soundtrack for every hip movie ever made.
July 24Jul 24 2 hours ago, UTCzech III said: God damn you. He's coming to Austin, he better not! (Side note, what a glorious time that was for trumpet players, Herb, Maynard, Chuck, Chicago, BS&T, EW&F-I remember one year at jr high band camp, yeah I know, at TLC in Seguin, some guy in our dorm had the sheet music to "Got To Get You Into My Life" with the trumpet parts, we all made copies on those old xerox machines with the super slick copy paper, still have it tucked away somewhere.. even outliers like the Freddie Hubbard solo on "Zanzibar" and Singers Unlimited, check out their version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" if you've never heard it, killer...) Freddie Hubbard was far from an "outlier" in trumpet circles. Maynard, Mangione, Alpert, hell even Bill Chase before his untimely death, just happened to catch on as rock stars not just to trumpet players but to the general public . Back then their music was substance and not some pop hook tune. But guys like Hubbard, Vizzutti, Doc (even though everybody knew about him because of the Tonight show), and a ton of others were monstrous talents. Even to this day I still play alongside two of Maynard's former lead players and another guy who played lead for Buddy Rich, on a regular basis and I am in awe sitting on the second third or fourth book next to these guys. Nowadays you have so many supremely talented trumpet players like Rick Baptist, Malcolm McNabb, Chris Coletti, etc.... not to mention the principals of most of the world class orchestras that are just pure perfection. (We even have at least one UT grad amongst the ranks of those upper tier elite orchestral types).
July 24Jul 24 7 minutes ago, Armybrat said: Doc Severinsen is 98… So you're still changing his diapers?
July 24Jul 24 1 hour ago, Longhornstampede said: Freddie Hubbard was far from an "outlier" in trumpet circles. Maynard, Mangione, Alpert, hell even Bill Chase before his untimely death, just happened to catch on as rock stars not just to trumpet players but to the general public . Back then their music was substance and not some pop hook tune. But guys like Hubbard, Vizzutti, Doc (even though everybody knew about him because of the Tonight show), and a ton of others were monstrous talents. Even to this day I still play alongside two of Maynard's former lead players and another guy who played lead for Buddy Rich, on a regular basis and I am in awe sitting on the second third or fourth book next to these guys. Nowadays you have so many supremely talented trumpet players like Rick Baptist, Malcolm McNabb, Chris Coletti, etc.... not to mention the principals of most of the world class orchestras that are just pure perfection. (We even have at least one UT grad amongst the ranks of those upper tier elite orchestral types). No I just meant that once in a while a song would come from somewhere other that where you would normally expect, in this case a Billy Joel song, that had a killer trumpet solo (2 actually)...
July 24Jul 24 1 hour ago, Longhornstampede said: @UTCzech III have you checked out the Herb Alpert Is doc? Thanks for the heads up, I will definitely check that out
July 24Jul 24 37 minutes ago, UTCzech III said: No I just meant that once in a while a song would come from somewhere other that where you would normally expect, in this case a Billy Joel song, that had a killer trumpet solo (2 actually)... Zanzibar?
July 24Jul 24 Author 1 hour ago, Longhornstampede said: (We even have at least one UT grad amongst the ranks of those upper tier elite orchestral types). Who are you referring to? Elias Haslanger went to Austin High, same class as my wife, he played sax with Maynard for a cup of coffee. I'm not familiar with too many trumpets from Austin other than Ephraim Owens.
July 24Jul 24 5 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: It's funny, Maynard & Chuck were the two biggest influences on almost every young trumpet player back then and yet they could not have been much more different. Both very talented, but Maynard was a screamer jazz-rock guy and Chuck was so smooth he might as well have been lumped in with the yacht rockers. Much more appropriately than Steely Dan, for sure.
July 25Jul 25 1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said: Who are you referring to? Elias Haslanger went to Austin High, same class as my wife, he played sax with Maynard for a cup of coffee. I'm not familiar with too many trumpets from Austin other than Ephraim Owens. Craig Morris...from San Antonio
July 25Jul 25 Author CSO -- that's badass. My horn prof at UT (Wayne Barrington) was 3rd chair under Fritz Reiner.
July 25Jul 25 50 minutes ago, Longhornstampede said: Craig Morris...from San Antonio Went to school with Craig, nice guy. Also had Bob Cannon as my TA one year.
July 25Jul 25 7 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: It's funny, Maynard & Chuck were the two biggest influences on almost every young trumpet player back then and yet they could not have been much more different. Both very talented, but Maynard was a screamer jazz-rock guy and Chuck was so smooth he might as well have been lumped in with the yacht rockers. No Chase?
July 25Jul 25 Author 1 minute ago, tigol said: No Chase? Not in my time, but every HS band played some Bill Chase for sure.
July 25Jul 25 33 minutes ago, UTCzech III said: Went to school with Craig, nice guy. Also had Bob Cannon as my TA one year. Same. Craig was a year behind me ... But way ahead as a player. And Tom Tallman as a TA too. Good jazz guy.
July 25Jul 25 Csb The RRISD sax “technique teacher” when I was in MS and HS was friends with Denis DiBlasio, the bari sax player for Maynard Ferguson. I, too, was a bari sax player. DiBlasio was in town and agreed to play in with our HS jazz band. Denis had an idea that we’d do a cross handed thing where we were both playing both saxes. I did not pick it up the first time and he concluded “screw it, we’ll do something else.” Anyhow, we played Coconut Champagne - I did the first solo - he played a 2nd solo for about 5 minutes. He was sensational. I was a high schooler who was afraid to fuck up in front of a famous person. Wish I had cared a little less about that at that time. Another time, Maynard played at Westlake high school and we all got to meet him. He’s more impressive in person that on his records. /csb Another trivia nugget - Gregg Bissonnette was the drummer for Maynard at that time. After, he was drummer for David Lee Roth, Joe Satriani, Andy Summers, Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, among many others. https://youtu.be/hGQWCR6jFZ4?si=HWAGsJ7jymc6Jgc-
July 25Jul 25 Author As a very young pup I saw Maynard in the round, circa 1977. Peter Erskine was his drummer, right before he split for Weather Report. I was nowhere sophisticated enough to understand what I was seeing, but holy shit Erskine was unbelievable. Years later, Maynard's band came through the Wendy's I worked at late one night. I was semi-gobsmacked. Stan Mark stepped up to order and I asked him why he played a black trumpet. He was a total dick -- "because I can". OK, fucker. That was the very last time I let someone's fame clutter my thoughts. I might have spit on his burger. (Might have.)
July 25Jul 25 1 hour ago, Longhornstampede said: Same. Craig was a year behind me ... But way ahead as a player. And Tom Tallman as a TA too. Good jazz guy. Ah yes, Tom, another TA of mine, cool
July 25Jul 25 Erskine played in Steps Ahead, before Steve Smith (of Journey fame) joined in ~1987. Both are fantastic drummers. Steps Ahead was founded largely by Michael Brecker (tenor sax) and Mike Manieri (vibraphones). They created some fantastic music in the mid-80s to mid-90s. When in NYC (a family member lives there) I always seek out a Steve Smith show. After one of Smith's shows, I see a guy I think I recognize. I ask if his name is Mike Manieri. He says, "yes." I said that I recognized him from the "Live in Tokyo 1987" show (it was 2022?) video. He laughed and we talked for a bit. Down to earth talented guy. Was teaching at NYU and gigging on the side. EDIT - looks like it was from 1986. Mike was the first guy I ever saw play w/ 4 mallets. Freaking amazing. Edited July 25Jul 25 by boilerhorn
July 25Jul 25 RIP Chuck. Maynard, Chuck, Herb, Wynton Marsalis, Arturo Sandoval, Doc, Hugh Masekela are all up in my current play list. Edited July 25Jul 25 by CycleTex87
July 25Jul 25 Author Doc is WAY underrated, presumably because he was seen as Johnny Carson's outlandish foil for so many years. I got to see Wynton back to back nights -- one with his jazz quartet, the second with a symphony. Mind blown.
July 25Jul 25 21 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: For the better part of a year in the late 1970s you couldn't miss this tune on radio. I actually met him once, as he went to college with one of my horn teachers so we went to a big outdoor concert west of Chicago. Nice guy. My mind associates this song, played a little faster, with a theme song from the 70s or early 80s. I've searched and it is not, but there is something close out there.
July 25Jul 25 The thing about Feels So Good was the range that Mangione lived in throughout that number, it was a big break from most flugelhorn solos before. Most people associate flugel with lower and mid register and mellow (someone like Derek Watkins being the standard on flugel, while he could absolutely scream on trumpet) but Chuck, while not screaming, stayed in a pretty high range for flugelhorn and showed great control of the horn and his tone while doing it. A lot of guys couldn't maintain that on flugelhorn, thus you had many just play it all on trumpet. Edited July 25Jul 25 by Longhornstampede Because I can't figure out how to spell flugelhorn!
July 25Jul 25 Author It's definitely a lot easier on trumpet. I never played much flugelhorn, but in my descent from trumpet to (brief stop) euphonium because I got braces to French horn I just kinda avoided the usuals like flugelhorn or mellophone. French horn was my wheelhouse, which was cool because it was so damn hard most brass players just said "fuck that".
July 25Jul 25 3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: It's definitely a lot easier on trumpet. I never played much flugelhorn, but in my descent from trumpet to (brief stop) euphonium because I got braces to French horn I just kinda avoided the usuals like flugelhorn or mellophone. French horn was my wheelhouse, which was cool because it was so damn hard most brass players just said "fuck that". Fellow horn player here, and I agree totally. I got a flugel because of Chuck, of course. I saw him dozens of times, including the Hollywood Bowl shows. But, the best horn player I ever saw perform was Al Vizzutti.
July 26Jul 26 1 hour ago, Gil Bang said: Fellow horn player here, and I agree totally. I got a flugel because of Chuck, of course. I saw him dozens of times, including the Hollywood Bowl shows. But, the best horn player I ever saw perform was Al Vizzutti. Indeed. I mentioned Vizzutti up thread
July 26Jul 26 Out having a couple of brews, when I get home I’ll start a brass thread for all us band geeks…. No woodwinds allowed!
July 26Jul 26 I always liked Chuck. He had such a great band. Guitarist Grant Geissman can flat out play. I think he was in his early twenties when he came up with that iconic solo on FSG. He pops in occasionally to Norman's Rare Guitars on youtube. I went to a music fest in Japan in the early 2000's and was waiting to see Wilco when the band Crazytown came on stage. I was not a fan of that band but was really surprised to see drummer James Bradley Jr playing with them. He was playing with Mangione when I saw them on January 20, 1980 at the Lloyd Noble in Norman (the same night as the Steelers/Rams Super Bowl). Talk about a varied career. Edited July 26Jul 26 by Sweetnsourpoke
July 26Jul 26 On 7/24/2025 at 8:28 PM, Longhornstampede said: Craig Morris...from San Antonio Another UT grad, Billy Hunter, has been in the Met for quite some time as well. Also, Tom Siders is in the Boston Symphony. There are probably others, but those are two that also came to mind.
July 27Jul 27 23 hours ago, Sweetnsourpoke said: I always liked Chuck. He had such a great band. Guitarist Grant Geissman can flat out play. I think he was in his early twenties when he came up with that iconic solo on FSG. He pops in occasionally to Norman's Rare Guitars on youtube. I went to a music fest in Japan in the early 2000's and was waiting to see Wilco when the band Crazytown came on stage. I was not a fan of that band but was really surprised to see drummer James Bradley Jr playing with them. He was playing with Mangione when I saw them on January 20, 1980 at the Lloyd Noble in Norman (the same night as the Steelers/Rams Super Bowl). Talk about a varied career. I demand a mouthpiece discussion. You Bach 7C guys are pussies. I was a 1 1/2 C guy myself.
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