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Inside This Issue
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jazzView talks with
Nathan Botts
Jazz Solo and Classical Solo Winner,
International Trumpet Guild
jazzView: You've had success in both classical and jazz trumpet performance. What are the technical challenges and mindset challenges of living the "dual life" of classical and jazz?
Nathan: Keeping your improvisation chops alive while playing Mozart on the road with a chamber orchestra for a month! Only kidding ... sort of.
My early training as a trumpet player was geared toward basic technique and building strength. I learned to get around the whole instrument but always with the same goals in mind: one, to be able to improvise and get around a series of chord changes more fluidly; and two, to be able to have a powerful sound in the upper register like my first teacher Mike Vax. That was basically it.
On the bandstand itself, there was no thought except to make great music and emote through the instrument. This led to a playing style in which I was very accustomed to playing with a certain amount of physical abandon, with little thought for the technical challenges that present themselves when playing the trumpet. Who thinks about precision when, with plunger mute in hand you feel inspired to play a high, long, shake - ala Cootie Williams - and then rip off the end of it in a loud "bark?" Or conversely, when playing a soft ballad, who's thinking about resonance, when so much of the character of the music comes from a sound that borders on a wispy airiness?
jazzView: When did you first begin to seriously study classical and orchestral trumpet playing?
Nathan: It was in college, and I had many difficulties; the playing in these genres, by comparison to jazz, I found much more surgical and precise. Mentally and physically I had no experience with the techniques these genres require. There are those who foolishly insinuate that jazz requires less technique, and I don't mean to communicate that here. I had studied doodle-tonguing just as much others around me had worked out Scheherazade, but ask me at that time to play any of those tricky bits every orchestral trumpet player out there has worked to death? At the time, not a chance!
The frustrating thing, was that musically I knew what was supposed to happen, but I had no idea how to really make it work. I mean, who doesn't listen to the first movement of Mahler's 6th and groove? Now, while lost in that groove, try and play the opening trumpet solo with a bold and beautiful tone, secure and solid articulation, and perfect time! That was a challenge for me. Or even better, try performing the Ballerina's Dance from Petrouchka and see what thoughts run through your mind!
jazzView: What are some of the specific demands of classical playing?
Nathan: With classical performance, your mind has to be in a different place than it is when playing lead trumpet in a big band. The air is used somewhat differently, the tongue is in a different position. The concept of sound production and resonance is vastly different. Goals in achieving flexibility are different. The list goes on and on, and it would be exhausting and extremely boring to talk about them all right here. Luckily I had a great teacher at the time, David Brown, who was indispensable in helping me learn to transition between classical and jazz genres, and ultimately learning to effectively perform in orchestras and as a classical soloist.
In short, I find that to perform consistently at a very high level in classical genres, I can never let myself go as much as I could as a jazz soloist. The precision required forbids it. And after watching and performing with some of the greatest classical musicians in the world, I'm convinced that, all appearances aside, they don't either.
As an audience member it's your privilege to enjoy the rapture of the Beethoven violin concerto, but don't believe that the soloist will be as lost in what she's doing as her face may seek to reveal. Or, when you hear a very precise and heroic - or destructive and demonic - entrance in the brasses in a large orchestral work, enjoy the drama of it, and know that the guys (and gals) in the back of the band that make that happen are as focused as surgeons.
It even gets more extreme if we were to begin talking about what goes on in the performance of contemporary music. I don't think it would be possible to play Elliot Carter's Brass Quintet without continually doing what amounts to long division in your head!
jazzView: Who are your main musical influences and why?
Nathan: I took my first lesson in jazz improvisation from Clark Terry, and he has had the foremost influence on my jazz playing ever since. I also enjoy Miles Davis, whose "Miles Smiles" was the second jazz record I ever owned.
I've especially been influenced by the trumpeters that performed with vocalists or as vocalists themselves. Louis Armstrong, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Roy Eldridge, Chet Baker; the trumpet players who have such a great sense of musical line at fast tempos, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw ... the list gets too long if I continue listing trumpet players I've studied and listened to over the years.
My compositions and sense of musical style have been heavily influenced by Duke Ellington, Tom Harrell, and Igor Stravinsky. My sense of melody and phrase heavily influenced by the operas of Mozart (first and foremost and forever), Richard Strauss, and of course the concertos of Beethoven, and the piano music of Chopin. Finally the musical personalities of certain conductors have also had a great influence on me - Leonard Bernstein, James Levine, and Pierre Boulez especially.
jazzView: Tell us about the trumpet competitions you have entered over the last few years.
Nathan: I was twice a finalist for the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet competition. I won first prizes in both the Jazz Solo, and Classical Solo competitions of the International Trumpet Guild. The best thing about competitions is when they're all over with. I've had much more fun making new friends at music festivals all over the world.
Editor's Note: You can read more about Nathan's outstanding competition achievements by clicking on his photo below. Although he's too humble to mention it, he was the first soloist to win first prize in both the Classical and Jazz Solo competition of the International Trumpet Guild in the same year.
jazzView: What is your typical practice schedule?
Nathan: I practice as much as I can. Sometimes it's as much as 6 hours in one day, sometimes it's only 10 minutes before I check out of a hotel room. It just depends on the situation.
Listen to Nate's solos on
Solar and How Insensitive ...
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jazzView: What are a few tips you would pass along to aspiring trumpet players?
Nathan: 1. Learn all the music you can. It's now the 21st century, and the amount of music available to be performed and the number of styles the music industry now requires you to perform proficiently, is staggering. In my opinion, these days to be an American-born trumpet player who can't proficiently play jazz styles and improvise, is to be a sorely inadequate musician.
2. The business is not what it was when your teacher graduated from school. Some of my greatest mentors were people who were only ten years my senior and still just beginning their careers. I find people like this are much more aware of what's going on in the business than other people, more senior in the field, who are well entrenched with an orchestral position, or a long running Broadway show, or the right contacts in the recording business, or whatever. You might find that people such as these will give you very out-of-date information.
3. If you can think of something else other than music, which you would enjoy as a career, do that instead. Music can be a hobby, a parlor vocation that enriches your life and those of your friends and family, without it having to be a career. Consider how you want to earn a realistic living, maintain health insurance, plan for retirement, own property, and then ask some of your closest musician friends how they have achieved some of these things. Their answers in many cases may shock you! Ask a performer how they make a living and what the lifestyle is truly like, educate yourself, and make an informed decision about your career. If you feel music is for you, good luck and enjoy the ride!
In a very short time I've had so many wonderful experiences as a performer I couldn't relate them all in even a rather long book. The ride is exhilarating, challenging, and at times treacherous, but for those who know they have to do it, it's all done in stride.
jazzView: Tell us about your recent or current music activities.
Nathan: Earlier this year I performed as a soloist and on tour for 6 weeks as principal trumpet with the National Symphony Orchestra of China. Then I went to Switzerland for the summer where I perform with the Verbier Festival Orchestra. In September I got married, and early October I went on the road with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Manny Axe was the soloist doing an all Mozart program.
I leave in a matter of hours [at the time of this writing] for Europe where I'll again be on tour, this time with the Verbier Orchestra. We'll go all over Europe, then on to China, Japan, Korea, finally ending in Australia. It'll be a 29-hour travel day to get home from Sydney, and the following day I begin rehearsals for another concert with an orchestra here in New York City. Things will calm down beginning in January!
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jazz articles
Article 27: Time Travel
What if I told you that time travel is possible? ...
(READ MORE >>>)
Article 28: Anticipation ...
From Saturday Night Live to playing chords early, anticipation is a technique worth waiting for ...
(READ MORE >>>)
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Expressions - Thoughts on Jazz
Famous quotes can be an inspiration for living life, but they can also illuminate our paths in the study and enjoyment of jazz improvisation!
Here are some selected quotes along with "improvisation notes," taken from The Art of Improvisation CD-ROM.
"After all is said and done, sit down." - Bill Copeland
How true! If I had a nickel for every solo I've heard that went at least one chorus too long ... Occasionally I hear a solo that's too short, but that's the exception. The art is in saying something meaningful in a shorter amount of time.
"Examine what is said, not him who speaks." Arabian Proverb
When you hear a soloist on a recording or gig, do you mentally criticize the solo ideas so you come out the winner, or do you look for what works in the solo and what you could learn from it? Even when there isn't much to imitate, then there is much to avoid. You can always learn from it without making it personal, and you may have the opportunity to share your insights with that person later.
"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll
I love this quote! If this one doesn't get you thinking outside the box for improvisation, I don't know what will ... Even believing one impossible thing would make my Wheaties all the more sweet. And for us musicians, "impossible" may often translate to "unlikely" or even "unusual" as we create musical ideas. Even that which is "somewhat impossible" can be of great value to us, when we finally get our minds around it. Then who knows - we may look back at it and scoff at its non-impossibility, after all.
"Always do what you are afraid to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is especially good advice for your practice routines. By stretching yourself in practice, you get used to the idea of stretching yourself in performance, a mindset that can take your improvisation farther than you ever imagined.
"Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
This is true wherever you pick up new musical ideas - at a concert, at a rehearsal, or trying new practice methods. Why go back when you can go forward instead? And there's plenty of room to expand even further, once we "make up our minds" to do so ...
"Ever building to the clouds, and never reflecting that the poor narrow basis cannot sustain the giddy, tottering column." - Schiller
The basis or foundation elements we build on in improvisation include ear training, instrumental technique, playing solid downbeats and offbeats, hearing chord progressions, and SHAPE (See, Hear, And Play Expressively). Examples of building on shaky foundations include: playing outside with weak interval recognition; playing double-time passages with poor instrumental technique; playing complicated rhythms without secure downbeats and offbeats; playing Giant Steps without being able to hum the bassline; and trying to develop a solo without seeing musical shapes.
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Jazz on YouTube - Michael Brecker
In this issue, we spotlight two more amazing jazz videos on YouTube.com, this time featuring saxophonist Michael Brecker. Click on each picture to start the video on YouTube; a brief description of the highlights is also included.
"Madam Toulouse" - with the Makote Ozone Trio, October 3-8, 2001 - Blue Note Tokyo, Japan
Makoto Ozone, Piano; Michael Brecker, Tenor sax; James Genus, Bass; Clarence Penn: Drums
*0:10 - Sax fills on vamp chord, before the melody begins
*0:48-0:52 - Burning double-time
*1:02 - Tune melody begins
*1:29 - Second chorus of melody
*1:45 - Solo begins; opening 2-note theme developed until 1:55
*2:12-2:26 - Long development of 6-note pattern
*2:41 - Wide interval attacks, with matching body language
*3:30-3:38 - Trading ideas with piano
*4:35-4:45 - Upper register
*5:10-5:20 - Gradual winding down of the solo
*5:27-8:01 - Great piano solo by Makote Ozone, not described here ...
*8:02-8:59 - Trading 4's with sax, piano, and drums
*8:59 to end - Repeat of intro and final choruses of melody
"Oleo" - from a Scottish TV show, 1983
Michael Brecker (tenor sax), Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen (bass), Philip Catherine (guitar), Gordon Beck (piano), Jon Christensen (drums)
*0:01-0:25 - Tune melody, duet with Brecker and Pedersen
*0:26 - Sax solo starts, emphasizing flat-9
*0:45-0:50 - Jagged rhythms (3 against 4)
*1:30-1:34 - More jagged rhythms
*1:54-2:00 - Nice double-time passage over bridge chords
*3:58-4:11 - Developing a chromatic passage
*4:35-4:42 - Start of bass solo, idea adapted from end of sax solo
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Back Issues of the jazzView Newsletter
Miss an issue of jazzView? Not to worry - we've got them all here ... just click and read! Issues are sorted by date (recent to early) and interview feature.
October 2006 - Murray Snyder (part 2)
September 2006 - Murray Snyder (part 1)
August 2006 - Susan Muscarella, The Jazzschool
July 2006 - Jeremy Wilson, JazzStandards.com
June 2006 - Bob Curnow, Sierra Music (part 2)
May 2006 - Bob Curnow, Sierra Music (part 1)
April 2006 - Kelly Eisenhour, BYU Jazz Vocal
March 2006 - Initial Issue
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