Vintage Trumpet Treasures

On the surface, Vintage Trumpet Treasures is a collection of turn of the century (100 years ago) duets for trumpet. But it is really much more than that. Or more accurately, I should say, it is really much less than that.

Even though Vintage Trumpet Treasures falls under the “classical” genre, I never approached it with a classical mind set. Yes, I am “classically trained.” I have studied classical music my entire life. I am quite capable of putting out a genuine classical CD, but this is not that. I went into the Vintage Trumpet Treasures project with one objective only. I wanted to create a recording that anyone could listen to and enjoy. I wanted it to be beautiful. I wanted the melodies to sing. I wanted it to sooth the savage beast that resides in all of us from time to time.

What I did NOT want was for it to be analyzed, dissected and studied as if it was some grand academic work. The music is simple. There’s nothing to see here with your intellectual mind. I encourage you to just plop the CD into the player and go about your day. Enjoy the way the music makes you feel. Let it lift you up and energize you.

I remember when I first began making these recordings. I was painfully aware of the fact that I was using commercial studio techniques to record what some would call a “classical” CD.

I knew trumpet students would listen to the album and say that it was very good trumpet playing. I once had a student who, after I explained to him how I recorded it, commented on how good my breath control was. I had just told him that the recording itself was a “work of art” and not actually a true representation of my playing. And yet, he still believed that my breath control was amazing.

This album is not supposed to be a representation of my trumpet playing. I edited out most of the mistakes. I took breaks when I needed to. And I did all of this without shame because I knew what my objective was.

I remember in the 80’s I heard a story of a multi-instrumentalist who played all the instruments on his album and also did all the singing. As a trumpet player, I originally though that this was off limits to me because I only play trumpet. But what about trumpet CDs?

I think the only thing that made me not consider making trumpet CDs that way was the stigma surrounding classical music. In my mind, classical recordings should not be overly edited. I believed that classical music was genuine performance art. And if you needed to edit the recordings, then you were a joke as a musician. Maybe that’s not true, but that’s the standard I held myself to.

So when I recorded Vintage Trumpet Treasures, in my mind, it wasn’t a “classical” CD. It was supposed to be a recording people could listen to and enjoy. No pretense. No posturing. Just good sounding music that I would edit to make sound precisely how I wanted it to sound.