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The Brass Junkies

The Brass Junkies, hosted by former Boston Brass tuba player Andrew Hitz and a rotating cast of characters, features interviews with the best and brightest brass players in the world. Subject matter includes everything from the serious to the ridiculous, just like the music business.
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Now displaying: September, 2019
Sep 17, 2019

TBJ120: Colin WIlliams (Brass Junkies Rewind)

Hey all! This is our first Brass Junkies Rewind. We're hoping to occasionally highlight a particularly good early episode that many people might have missed. This was back from Episode 26, way before I got more "creative" with the show notes. Simpler times.

***We just launched a brand new Brass Junkies newsletter! It will change your life. Like, it's life-changing! Subscribe today to stay in the loop on all things Brass Junkies!***

Colin Williams, newly tenured Associate Principal Trombone with the New York Philharmonic joins Andrew & Lance in a very frank and honest discussion about recovering from chop injury. Colin also sets Andrew's heart aflame, describing his experience playing w/Trey Anastasio from Phish, talks about what it is like working w/Joe Alessi (spoiler alert, it's pretty good), and his thoughts on what makes for effective orchestral management. 

Oh, and he hates wearing tails. Like a lot.

Links:

Colin's Page at NY Phil 

Want to help the show? Here are some ways:

Expertly produced by Will Houchin with love, care, and enthusiasm. NOTE: The original interview was produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler.

Sep 9, 2019

Brass Junkies Extra: Tubist Aubrey Foard of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on the state of the lockout

In this special episode of The Brass Junkies, Aubrey Foard catches us up on where things stand with the BSO lockout.

From his bio:

Aubrey Foard is the principal tubist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2018. He also serves as Lecturer of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and as Artist Faculty at the Brevard Music Center. Mr. Foard was most recently principal tubist of the Charlotte Symphony, where he had performed since 2012. He has previously held principal tuba positions in the Santa Barbara, West Virginia, Canton, Youngstown, and Albany Symphonies as well as with the Britt Festival Orchestra. He has performed as a guest musician with several other orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, Arizona MusicFest, and as Acting Principal Tubist with the San Diego Symphony.

Aubrey gives us an inside look at how the lockout has impacted the musicians over these last few months. 

We discuss:

  • Expiration of their contract
  • Summer bargaining sessions
  • His first act as a member of the BSO
  • Management's offers vs. the players'
  • Cancellation of the summer season and the start of the lockout
  • Lack of progress in negotiations
  • Aubrey taking 47 auditions before landing the BSO gig
  • Taiwan Tubamania
  • Finding Baltimore Symphony recordings in Taipei
  • Individual overscale negotiations
  • Leaving the Charlotte Symphony
  • The impact of previous management decisions on today's situation
  • The difference between a 40-week and a 52-week orchestra
  • Playing with the San Diego Symphony in the summers
  • How uncertainty of the future of the orchestra has impacted him personally
  • Having to hit the road to make it work
  • The impact on his family
  • 15-20 other cities have already reached out to have Baltimore Symphony players sub with their orchestras
  • ICSOM Call to action has provided over $250,000 so far
  • "The BSO without the O is just BS"
  • Lessons from the experience (stay united and get involved)
  • Throwing a mega-brass concert to support the musicians
  • Collecting data for the creation of a fact sheet and data project
  • Michael Kaiser, make great art and market it brilliantly
  • Places and people who are doing it right in the industry
  • Aubrey Bergauer of the California Symphony
  • Deborah Borda of the New York Philharmonic
  • Mark Niehaus of the Milwaukee Symphony 
  • Phil Munds and Andy Balio on The Brass Junkies
  • Future Symphony Institute

Here's a link to a recent article from Baltimore Sun outlining the state of things:

"BSO and musicians in marathon contract negotiations as deadline looms"

Here's a link to the musicians' Facebook page:

BSO Musicians Facebook page

And their website:

BSO Musicians Website

The players' GoFundMe page:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-the-o-in-bso

Sep 3, 2019

TBJ119: Clarke Rigsby of Tempest Recording on Paul McCartney, Steve Gadd and his Most Improved Player trophy

Clarke Rigsby of Tempest Recording has acquired a reputation amongst his peers for being “musically militant.” Nuff said.

From his site:

Clarke Rigsby of Tempest Recording has acquired a reputation amongst his peers for being “musically militant.” Today, technology often overshadows or masks (or invents…) true musical talent, and although Clarke has the tools to “fix it in the mix,” he’d rather let music come from the musician and not the machine. Clarke combines his technical savvy and musical talent with his engineering and production experience giving his clients the appropriate combination for producing a first-rate project.

Since 1980, Clarke’s recording history would be called diverse. Clarke has worked with such artists as Paul McCartney, Joey DeFrancesco, Glen Campbell, Ike Turner, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Billy Taylor, Hal Blaine, David Grisman, Jimmy Smith, The Phoenix Boys Choir, The Four Tops, Bobby Hutcherson, Don Edwards, James Moody, Rex Allen, Waylon Jennings, Frank Gambale, Alice Cooper, James Galway, Boston Brass, Brownie McGee, Tower of Power, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Joe Alessi, Phil Smith (New York Philharmonic), Mark O’Connor, Peter Erskine, El Chicano, Honey Boy Edwards, UNM Wind Ensemble, Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Eric Burdon, Snuff Garrett, Lee Hazlewood, R. L. Burnside, Little Milton, Bo Diddley, Harvey Mason, Warren Jones, The Ahn Trio, The Arizona State University Marching Band, Bill Conte, River City Brass. With old pals Tim & Willy (KMLE Radio..) he’s done projects with a “who’s who” list of country music stars including Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes, Steve Wariner, Trisha Yearwood, Sugarland, Billy Dean, Wynonna Judd, Dierks Bentley, Blake Sheldon, Colin Raye, Clint Black, Phil Vasser, Little Big Town, Travis Tritt, Trick Pony, Lee Ann Womack, Terri Clark, along comedians Frank Caliendo and Tim Hawkins, among many others.

In this fun and lively discussion, we cover:

  • Andrew's birthday!
  • Clarke's start in the music business
  • From L.A. to Phoenix
  • Deciding to stay in Phoenix due to the L.A. scene in the early 80's
  • Building his studio
  • The joys of dealing with the city government
  • Clarke and Paul McCartney on top of a bus
  • Working with Phil Ramone
  • Working with Sam Pilafian
  • How they met
  • "It's called development"
  • Working with Steve Gadd and Joey DeFrancesco
  • Boston Brass working with Steve Gadd
  • Andrew actively ignoring Clarke's video
  • Sweaty Lance
  • Gadd's process
  • Steely Dan stories
  • How he got started doing brass recordings
  • How the recording process is a learning opportunity and makes you a better musician
  • Recording the River City Brass Band
  • Freaking out at the green
  • Eating at Rizzo's on Clarke's 50th birthday
  • The Revenants
  • Winning an Emmy
  • Doing a jazz record with Frankie Valli
  • His "Most Improved Player" trophy
  • Working with Tower of Power
  • Tower of Power and the ASU Marching Band
  • Teaching at ASU
  • Recording for musicians
  • The impact of new technologies
  • Bison
  • TSA Agents
  • Awkward segues
  • Gadd AF Band

LINKS:

Want to help the show? Here are some ways:

Expertly produced by Will Houchin with love, care, and enthusiasm.

 

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