Edwards

While not as immediately exotic as Siberia or Thailand, Lake Jackson Texas really could be considered another country as Mr. Wilkins could verify. This coming weekend, I’ll be playing some duos here with the great Argentinian drummer Hernan Hecht.

Brian Allen || Hernan Hecht Duo April 2008 Tourette

• Sunday, April 20 – The Clarion at Brazosport College, Lake Jackson 4pm. Admission is free
• Monday, April 21 – Klein Oak HS in Houston, 3pm
• Tuesday, April 22 – Hecht Drum Clinic at Brazoswood HS, Lake Jackson 8:30am
• Tuesday, April 22 – Allen + Hecht Masterclass at Lake Jackson Intermediate School, 4pm $5 suggested donation

Brian Allen – trombone, Atari 2600, melodica, Kaoss Pad and other toys and electronics
Hernan Hecht – drums, electronics, percussion, toys (www.hernanhecht.com)

The Clarion is a beautiful performance hall with amazing acoustics. It is 50 miles south of Houston and one of the nicest places I’ve ever played. I have had the honor of teaching at Brazosport College since 2002.

Mexico City-based Hernan Hecht and I met in Merida in the Yucatan Peninsula, January 2007 when I got a grant from the organization Meet the Composer to rehearse and perform my music with a new band composed of Mexico-based musicians. Last September, Hernan and I did a very intense duo southwestern U.S. tour, with over 11 concerts in 10 days, playing all over Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. We will have a duo CD coming out shortly.

Check out some of our videos at YouTube.

Now Hernan has joined Brainkiller, my duo with Phoenix pianist Jacob Koller, and we’re really excited about our recently recorded CD after a rocking fall Mexico tour. In March, the trio played several concerts in Phoenix, including a show at the eternally cool and supportive Modified Arts Space, opening for Carla Bozulich. I also did an Edwards-sponsored clinic at Peoria HS in Phoenix.

Watch www.myspace.com/brainkillermusic for upcoming news/events. And check out some more YouTube videos.

Reviews for “Synapse” my trio CD with Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey, are still coming in with the latest being in the Greek Jazz Magazine “Jazz and Tazz.” If you can translate, please have a look here or here (and scroll down).

You can still buy this CD at many fine vendors, including iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, Downtown Music Gallery and through my website.

Jazz Trombone Ensemble fans might be interested in this clip from the 2005 Texas Tech University Jazz Bone Band, the year we won the ETW Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition and performed at ETW with the generous support of Edwards Instruments! This performance was at TMEA from that year, playing my tune “Knockoff.”

As always, please see my YouTube channel www.youtube.com/gatotemus for all the above videos and much more.

Thanks for your support!
Brian
www.braintone.com

We hate doing it, but due to the rising price of gold, we’ve had to make a few adjustments to our price list. These prices are subject to change.

On March 6th, my compatriots (Joel Dilley-Bassist and Darren Kuper-Drummer) and I flew from San Antonio, TX to Moscow, Russia to perform with Internationally renowned classical and jazz pianist and recording artist, Valeri Grohovski. I met Valeri in 1991 when he was a visiting professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and was immediately impressed by his virtuosity. He’s one of the greatest pianists in the world and it was a great honor to be invited to perform with him. After a couple of transfers in Cincinnati and New York, we were on our way to Moscow. Some eight hours later, we arrived in Moscow, went through customs and happily met Valeri and his two friends, Sergei and Misha, who helped us with our gear and drove us to Valeri’s exquisite apartment overlooking the Moscow river. We settled in, went over the tour schedule, had a marvelous lunch, and hit the road for our first of twelve concerts in sixteen days.

Our first concert was in the resort city of Magnitogorsk, some 3 1/2 hours (by plane) northwest of Moscow. We checked in late that night to the hotel affiliated with the concert hall and got some much needed rest. The next day we were served breakfast at the concert promoter’s office and viewed the hall. It was a large, 1500 seat auditorium (in need of and currently under restoration) with decent acoustics. Later that day, we had our sound check, went over the set list, and got ready for the performance. That evening the hall was packed and we blew them away. The songs we performed that evening, and the rest of the tour were:

First Set

1. I Got Rhythm-Gershwin
2. On Green Dolphin Street-Kaper
3. Misty-Garner
4. A Kiss to Build a Dream On-Armstrong
5. It Don’t Mean a Thing, if it Ain’t Got That
   Swing-Ellington (this was particularly fun because the
   audience sang the "doo-wah’s"-the Loved it!!)

Second Set

1. I Loves You Porgy-Gershwin (solo piano
   improvisation by Valeri-it was magical!!)
2. Nostalgia in Times Square-Mingus (a bass
   trombone/acoustic bass duet-Very Cool!)
3. Clark Terry’s "Mumbles" (some crazy scat singing)
4. What A Wonderful World-Armstrong (the Russians
   loved this one too!)
5. Fly Me to the Moon-a Sinatra Tribute
6. Bernie’s Tune-B. Miller

We had standing ovations after every performance, and great receptions after wards. After the third performance, word spread throughout the tour that this group was "outstanding" and a "must hear." If fact, the Russian audiences nicknamed me "The Black Trombone (go figure)." I felt like a rock star!

After Magnitogorsk, we played concerts in Ekaterinberg (a beautiful concert venue with lots of marble and big acoustics), Kamensk (small, but decent hall), Perm ( an excellent hall, very big city, great people), Chelyabinsk (an 500 seat Organ recital hall-nice!), Surgut (live from Siberia-Brrrrr!!), Omsk (more Siberia-very cold weather, very warm people), back to Moscow for one of four concerts (two at jazz/supper clubs, one at Valrei’s high school, and the final one at Moscow’s main concert hall venue, Dom Musikee). We had one other concert in Kalingrad (they love Valeri there-nice old cathedral converted into a concert hall) before our final three concerts back in Moscow.

Before our last concert, Valeri expressed his joy and gratitude by telling us he plans to come back to Texas this summer and record a CD with us. We were ecstatic with this news, and spoke of plans to return next year for more performances, as well as proposing a European and Asian tour. The tour was a huge success, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We also made some great new friends (Sergei, Misha and his wife Tanya) and returned with enough memories to last a lifetime.

I was particularly pleased that my health was good throughout the tour. I had my blood pressure and kidney medications with me and took them twice a day as prescribed. The food was great, we had excellent libations (especially the vodka-magnificent!), all our transport, meals, and lodging were covered, and we took some interesting train rides (including one 28-30 hour trip) on the Trans-Siberian Railway. It’s good to see that jazz music (and American jazz musicians) is really appreciated in Russia, and I look forward to the next opportunity to perform there again. My Edwards Model B454 Bass Trombone (with D slide attachment) was a big hit with Russian musicians (particularly trombonists). They were thoroughly impressed with it’s big sound and flexibility. The horn held up very well on the road, and I’m thrilled with the craftsmanship and detail. It’s an AWESOME horn (lovingly named “Odin”).

Sincerely,

Ron Wilkins

As many of you already know, Edwards has been working closely with Joe Alessi on a new tenor trombone the past couple of years. We are making great progress and anticipate this horn being available for sale in late 2008 or early 2009. With all the buzz this instrument is receiving, we thought it would be nice to provide you with a sample of the color we are achieving with this project. Enjoy.