Posted by Sean Chisham on June 16, 2000 at 14:33:59:
I called Brian Frederiksen a few days ago and ordered a copy of the "Portrait of an Artist" cd. All I can say is, "WOW!" This is an incredible ensemble of recordings gathered from sources ranging from home practice tapes in Mr. Jacobs' basement to live recordings with the CSO Brass Quintet to excerpts from commercial CSO recordings. Spread throughout the CD are snippits of conversations and lectures by Arnold Jacobs.
My only major complaint is that this was not a 10 CD box set. Everytime a track ended I was begging for more. My favorite excerpts from the CD are track 12, a Gugel/Pottag Etude recorded in his basement for practice purposes, and tracks 22-25, The Bozza Sonatine for Brass Quintet with Herseth, Cichowicz, Oldberg, Crisafulli, and Jacobs. The Pottag etude is one of the best examples of sound quality I have ever heard. Listen to that track a couple dozen times then play through the etude yourself. Most people pay $75-$100/hour to receive this kind of lesson. The Bozza is simply out of this world. I wish there were more commercially available recordings of this quintet.
So, do yourself a huge favor. Instead of ordering a pizza tonight, have a peanut and jelly sandwich and buy this recording.
sean chisham