Moving to Flugelhorn
Post Date: 7/27/2008
Hopefully the picture above speaks for itself. I am not comparing
myself to monster horn players like the legendary
Art Farmer and his amazingly
talented student
Dmitri Metheny. I wish I was that good! They both
keep me inspired and practicing. They have also helped me making a change
that has been in the works for a long time.
I have decided to answer the call of
the "big horn" and play flugelhorn exclusively.
I stated in an
earlier journal entry that my reasons for going to
flugelhorn were probably the wrong ones. Over time I've come to realize that they were not
the only factors as to why I found myself less and less in love with the sound
of my trumpet playing. When I
attended the Aebersold workshop this year I
was feeling so negatively about my trumpet sound that I took my flugelhorn
instead. The experience that I had at the camp combined with my
playing in general sealed the deal. I haven't touched my trumpet since
getting back and
I honestly don't intend to do so again.
One of the cool things about this journal is I was able to do some checking into when this whole flugel thing started. I found old entries that show I have been considering this for
some time - as far back as 2004.
Art Farmer is probably most known for leaving the trumpet in favor of the
flugelhorn.
In an interview taken by Les Tomkins in 1965 Art said regarding the
change:
"Everyone has to find their own voice as an instrumentalist, in jazz more
than other kinds of music. You want to sound as much like yourself as you can,
and still retain your musical values. If you put one thing in place of another,
it should be just as good as the one that came first, if not better. I don't
like change just for its own sake, but for improvement. Which is a matter for
the artist to decide. You may be wrong, but as long as you have the conviction,
who's to tell you? My decision, seven years or so ago, to concentrate on the
flugelhorn was not as strange to me as it was to other people. I've still been
trying to do what I was doing on trumpet, I'm just able to do it more often with
the flugelhorn. My attitude to the horn hasn't changed it's just a certain sound
that I'm looking for."
He goes on to say:
"So I have more facility, inasmuch as the sound is the beginning to me. If I
play a sound and it doesn't come out right, I don't feel like going on to the
next; I have to get that right first. Every note I play has got to sound more or
less the way I want it to, before I'm free to think of melodic ideas."
"I don't care too much for that shrill, thin sound that you get on the trumpet
sometimes. I can take a little bit of it, but as a contrast more than anything
else. It's not that I only want to play the soft thing; I want a wider range
than that. When things are working well; I get it."
Dave Douglas also wrote a fantastic blog entry describing
the reasons why
he has been playing cornet instead of trumpet. Most of his
reasons mirror my own although mine are probably more extreme since I'm picking
flugelhorn. "Thinking like a tenor sax" and "blending like a trombone" are
phrases that I feel whole heartedly with regards to my idea sound. The
lighter and less edgy sound of the flugelhorn feels more like my voice.
It also lends itself better to my style of playing.
All of the musicians that I play with regularly are cool with the change.
Many of them have been encouraging me to do this for a long time because my
playing seemed so much better on flugelhorn. Not just in sound but in
ideas and confidence. I know already that this choice will not go over
well with trumpet players. To most of them flugelhorn will always be
considered a secondary horn and I am sure to lose gigs if I cannot play both.
The fact of the matter is I am fine losing some trumpet gigs and opportunities
like big band, r&b, studio and section work. I picked up jazz for
improvisation and I can do just fine on flugelhorn. Maybe even better than
if I stay with trumpet.
I have talked with trumpet teachers/experts and they all told me that I can
continue to practice my fundamentals on flugelhorn just as I did on trumpet.
While many have encouraged me to practice on trumpet and just use flugelhorn for
gigs I feel I am selling myself short by not fully exploring the possibilities
of flugelhorn. Art Farmer once told Dmitri Metheny that he'd never get the
sound that he wanted on flugelhorn if he kept practicing on the "little horn."
Coming from Art this means a lot and I intend to follow that advice.
I'll close out this journal entry with a few YouTube videos that feature
flugelhorn playing that I really enjoy. Thanks to everyone who helped me through this decision and I appreciate both
the positive and negative responses to it. A very special thanks to
Dmitri Metheny for his advice and feedback.
Flugel-ly yours,
JazzBrew
Art Farmer
Tom Harrell
Roy Hargrove
Stephane Belmondo
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