As Covid caught me earlier this week and I have lots of time right now, I just want to start this thread and hear about your favorite trombone solo(s) (if you can't reduce it to one ) . Preferably jazz, but I'm also interested in classical ones, if you want to contribute those. Any kind of solo is fine, no matter if it's a bigband feature, a small band recording, solo or whatever. Thanks for your input in advance
Edit: sorry I was talking about recordings, that wasn't clear
Last edited by EriKon on Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:54 am, edited 3 times in total.
I have a soft spot for the solos that were popular about the turn of the last Century (Concert in the Park type). I have a whole bunch of them that I keep sorted by difficulty. No sense trying to do the solo with the 64th notes when you are having trouble playing double tongue, while the hymn tune gets boring if you can do more with it. I think of these the one I like most is an Arthur Pryor tune called "Thoughts of Love". It's a little easier than "Blue Bells of Scotland" but it really sounds nice.
I've also played a transcription of "Largo al Factotum" (Figaro's aria from "Barber of Seville" by Rossini). It gets really "notey" if you try to play it like it is usually sung.
In Jazz Band I like the trombone solo of Angel Eyes. Generally I tend to like slow ballads rather than up-tempos. If you like up tempos, lots of great tunes out there.
Bruce Guttman
Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra
"Almost Professional"
For more formal solos, I like DeFaye's Deux Danses because it's somewhere between jazz and legit styles. For "real book" sort of standards, I like Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Misty. Moody music tends to lend itself to trombone nicely, a lot of tone bending.
This isn't a fair question! But it's Friday, so I'll bite:
Henry Coker and/or Benny Powell, "One O'Clock Jump" , One O'Clock Jump, Count Basie (1957?)
J.J. Johnson, "Laura", J.J In Person!, J.J. Johnson (195x?)
Bob Brookmeyer, "Misty", The Lyrical Stan Getz, Stan Getz (Really an alternate take from Bob Brookmeyer and Friends)
Bob Brookmeyer, "Jive Hoot", Bob Brookmeyer and Friends, Bob Brookmeyer (1964?)
Bob Brookmeyer, "Skating in Central Park", Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Jim Hall/Bob Brookmeyer (1979)
Bob Brookmeyer, "The King", The Power of Positive Swinging, Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer (196?)
Robin Eubanks, "Candlelight Vigil", Prime Directive, Dave Holland Quintet (1999)
Ray Anderson, "The Gahtooze", Wishbone, Ray Anderson (1991)
David Marriott, Jr., "Metroid Suite", Contraband Reloaded (2018)
Jimmy Knepper, "Pussy Cat Dues", Mingus Ah Um, Charles Mingus (1959)
Dicky Wells, "Taxi War Dance", Album Unknown, Count Basie
Bill Watrous, "Dirty Dan", The Tiger of San Pedro, Bill Watrous and Manhattan Wildlife Refuge (1975)
Curtis Fuller, "Blue Train", Blue Train, John Coltrane (1957)
Wayne Henderson, "So Far Away", Crusaders 1, The Crusaders (197?)
Wayne Henderson, "Freedom Sound," The Festival Album, Jazz Crusaders (1966)
So much good trombone playing out there! I recently started listening to the second Eminent J.J. Johnson album, and I like it way more than the first one.
Last edited by jorymil on Sat Jun 11, 2022 11:30 am, edited 3 times in total.
Easy for me. Don’t know how many times I’ve listened to this recording. This entire (forgotten?) album is amazing. The transcription adds to the “wow” factor but it’s his variation in expression that is so interesting to me.
Here's a couple more:
Marshall Gilkes, "Edenderry", _Edenderry_, Marshall Gilkes, 2005
J.J. Johnson, "Quasimodo", _The_ _Complete_ _Dial_ _Sessions_, Charlie Parker, 1947?
Bob Brookmeyer, "Minuet Circa '61", _Recorded_ _Fall_ _1961_, Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer, 1961
J.J. Johnson, "Amazing Grace", _Tangence_, J.J. Johnson and the Robert Farnon Orchestra, 1994
Steve Turre, "Misterioso", _Master_ _of_ _the_ _Art_, Woody Shaw, 1982
Ray Anderson's version of "Let's Fall in Love" (in 5/4) on his album What Because. Takes the bluesy lyrical/vocal possibilities of the trombone to another level.
waynemyers, I heard Ray Anderson interviewed right after the What?/Because! album came out in 1990.
They talked about that version of "Let`s Fall in Love". If you remember, the Aids crisis was in full bloom at the time.
Ray said that because of everything going on with Aids, etc , you needed a little more "time" to find love, hence 5/4 instead of 4/4. And the world was a little darker to find a partner , hence it being in minor rather than major
Jazz: Slide Hampton's Lament from the Mellow dy album; Echoes of Harlem fron Steve Turre's Right There album; anything by Urbie Green. Red Leopard from John Allred's Focused album
Classical: Joe Alessi's Carmen Fantasy from the Trombonastics album, anything by Ben Van Dijk, James Markey or Achilles Liamarkopoulos.
) . Preferably jazz, but I'm also interested in classical ones, if you want to contribute those. Any kind of solo is fine, no matter if it's a bigband feature, a small band recording, solo or whatever. Thanks for your input in advance 
