The recent ITG held in Hershey, PA was one of the best for Scodwell USA. It was terrific to “hang” with Thomas Gansch and even more terrific hearing him on Friday night. What a tremendous musician and an even nicer human being. Not so great was him telling me that Mnozil Brass are limiting their US touring to only two weeks a year.
Roger Ingram enjoyed relaying all the good times we had together when he traveled with Tom Jones and I was in the trumpet section at Caesars Palace. When Charlie Schlueter came by my booth to say hello, I was surprised he remembered details of our first meeting at an ITG Conference in Denver. I asked him to relate his audition (s) with the New York Philharmonic to Thomas. (No wonder he didn’t go to NYC).
Richard Carson Steuart is a name you may not recognize at first but he is in the top rank of great trumpet soloists in the world and resides in Munich. You need to hear him. Phil Lawrence is another name probably not familiar to most of you and I’m sure you’ve heard him playing on the many Bond films and Batman soundtracks. I didn’t realize it but when Phil started talking about Fred Croft and his music store in London, he mentioned how much he enjoyed his DEG Signature trumpet he purchased from Fred. I looked at him and said, “why, that’s my design” and then the crazy stories about Fred and Don Getzen started. “Do you remember when Fred tried to teach Don how to drink a Martini through chop sticks?” Phil now lives in the Loire Valley of France and composes movie sound tracks (but still sounds wonderful).
Next year’s ITG will be in San Antonio, Texas followed by Miami, Columbus, Ohio and then Holland.
Hope you enjoy the pics!
