Posted by MG on August 31, 2000 at 01:30:49:
I'm going to be starting college this fall as a performance major, and when I
look ahead to the goals I have for my career, jazz is a major part of it. To be
honest, I just plain enjoy it more than "classical" playing (which is not to put
"classical" playing down; I still love it, but this is just me). I can say without
feeling like I'm being overly vain that I'm quite good at playing jazz. In fact, when I
attended the jazz camp in Shell Lake, Wisconsin this last summer (which was attended
by about 150 students from all over the Midwest), I can say for sure that I was in the top five improvisers there, regardless of instrument.
However, I'll never forget what one other student said to me after a rehearsal
one day up there. He said (being quite serious)"Man, you must be the best jazz tubist
in the world." Now, I know that's definitely not true, but it really made me think.
It seems like our instrument is generally taken quite seriously as a jazz instrument,
and that there are some very talented players out there making names for themselves
in jazz (Howard Johnson, Sam Pilafian, Jon Sass, etc.). However, other musicians have never heard these people.
When I first set out playing jazz, I didn't know for sure if anyone had ever
done it on tuba because I couldn't find any recordings or information for quite
a long time. I feel stupid now for thinking (back then) that I could be the first one ever to do it, but it is still my goal to some day make it big in that field. So, my question (after all this rambling) boils down to this: what is the current state of jazz tuba
playing? How much "pioneering" has actually been done, and how much still needs to be done?