[Dixielandjazz] Newfangled brasswind mouthpieces

[Elazar Brandt]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

Had an amusing gig today in Tel Aviv. On the way, I came early and popped into a
music store that does a lot of business with band instruments -- almost
nonexistent in Jerusalem. While perusing used horns of various persuasions, the
subject of mouthpieces came up, and the proprietor asked if I had ever tried a
plastic one. I thought he was kidding, as I'd never heard of such a thing, and
he couldn't believe I was so out of touch with this technological advancement
that I had never seen or tried one.

So he pulled out one 3C trumpet mouthpiece by a company called Kelly and handed
it to me. I almost laughed. It was bright green, about the size and weight of an
eye dropper. This was going to revolutionize my trumpet playing? He encouraged
me to put it in my horn and try it. So I did, and I could not believe my lips,
or my ears. It produced a crisp, clean tone through the entire range of the
horn. I noodled on it for awhile, and noticed that my lips were not showing any
signs of being strained or tired as they often do with my regular brass 1 1/2C
mouthpiece.

I was so impressed I bought the thing, along with one for tuba and a French horn
mouthpiece for one of my mellophones, both of which I have not yet tried. I
decided to use the trumpet mouthpiece at my gig this afternoon. I played for 2
1/2 hours and found myself feeling relaxed and comfortable for the duration.
When we finished, I almost felt as though we had not played at all. This
experience was all the more refreshing since lately I seem to be loosing my lip
already an hour or so into some gigs and having to nurse it and struggle through
the rest of the show.

Well, it was only one trial so far, but it was a revelation. Am I the only one
who has not heard of these things before? Anyone have any experience with the
Kelly plastic mouthpieces? Pros and/or cons?

I came home to a new student who is switching from trombone to trumpet. Last
week he could barely blow a note out of a trumpet at his first lesson. Today he
could play an unsteady C scale, a significant improvement, but with a long way
to go yet. I gave him the Kelly mouthpiece to try, and he proceeded to blow an
almost clear and in tune scale as his eyes bugged out and he said, "Where can I
get one of these?"

Meanwhile, back at the amusing gig. It was a teachers' union end of the year
party at a small Tel Aviv steak house. Their 60 people pretty much filled the
available seating. When they booked I suggested that a trio would be sufficient,
but they had budget apparently, and merrily requested the whole 5 piece band at
a generous price, even for an out of town gig. First of all there was barely any
place for us to stand. Then, the room was bare, low ceiling, plaster walls, tile
floors, wooden tables... very live. They specifically asked for background
music, so their people could talk while we played. This was going to be good.

We used mutes, hands in the bells, breath control worthy of a seasoned yogi,
trying to produce lively trad jazz that was about the volume level of the human
voice. Actually we more or less succeeded. We were too loud for a few of them,
but most enjoyed the music, and appreciated how hard we were working to keep the
volume down.

This was one of those gigs that could have gone really smoothly, but didn't,
because both the restaurant management and the group management did not respond
to our various requests. We arrived half an hour early as I had told them, and
the place was empty. Great. We tried to set up, but a table had to be moved to
make room for us in one corner. The manager didn't want to move the table until
the group arrived and was seated. So what could have been a painless and quick
rearrangement turned into a nightmare of trying to dance the table around
instruments and customers and wait staff. Likewise with our cases, which I asked
where they can be stowed during the gig. There was a place, but only one case
ended up there. The rest remained stacked in another corner of the room.

As the first people arrived and saw the band, they immediately began to complain
that it would be too noisy and they wouldn't be able to talk. We managed to
assure them that we could play good jazz without waking up sleeping babies, and
they backed off from complaint mode to wait and see. The funny thing was that
those who complained the most ended up being the ones who enjoyed us the most,
as we observed them bobbing heads and tapping hands or fingers in time to the
music, smiling, applauding after each song.

The clincher came near the end of the show as we took a great chance and gave
our washboard player a solo. After all our efforts to make quiet but happy jazz
for the past two hours, the washboard solo got the ovation -- and he's a
beginning player and didn't even do anything fancy. We think it was just the
oddity of the washboard as an instrument that got them. Many were old enough to
remember their parents or grandparents using the things to do laundry!

But in the end they fed us a nice steak meal with drinks, had the check ready,
and it wasn't even post-dated (it's not uncommon in Israel to have to wait 30-60
days to receive payment from corporations, organizations, government clients,
and other such entities), and they seemed genuinely pleased with a good
performance.

All in a day's work.

Elazar
Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet/Brass Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
<www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
Tel: +972-2-679-2537