[Dixielandjazz] Trombones - which to choose?

[David Richoux]

Don,

that Brad Gowans invention seems a bit like precursor to a trombone 
that was produced for a few years in the 1970-1980s - the Holton TR395 
Superbone. I have one and use it from time to time in various bands. 
Very interesting, very fast in the right hands,  but a bit odd ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbone   
http://www.bscjb.com/chapman.htm
picture at 
http://www.musiciansbuy.com/holton_tr395_mf_superbone_tr395.html

Dave Richoux
On Oct 26, 2005, at 2:07 PM, dingle at baldwin-net.com wrote:

> Luís Henriques wrote:
>
>> Hi trombone players,
>>
>> just a curiosity question:
>>
>> Which trombones are better for OKOM?  Trombone in Bb or in C?  What
>> about the models?  I've been looking at eBay and there are really 
>> cheap
>> trombones there!  Do you recommend anything in particular (from these
>> inexpensive models)?
>>
>> Thanks a lot.
>>
>>
> The only musician of the trad jazz era that I knew of that used 
> anything but a B flat rombone was Brad Gowans, the fine valve 
> trombonist.
> He had a trombone made for him that was in C rather than B flat. That 
> way he could read off the paino parts without need for tranpostion. He 
> also had a combinaton slide - just four positions. That way he could 
> play glisses, slurs and do some amazing melodic tricks by just  
> kicking in a one postion change while still playing the valves as if 
> in the original keys. I was lucky enough to meet him and talk to him 
> about his horn when he moved to the L.A. area in the post WW II 
> period. Tasty player with innovative ideas. He remains one of my 
> heroes of that instrument.
> Generally speaking, most trombonists in jazz play B flat trombones. 
> There are some made  in other skeys, usually used in concert and 
> classical music when a composer writes something for it. Like the 
> trumpets in E flat, G or other keys often used in Baroque music.
> But B flat is the norm to expect in most jazz band trombones.
> Don Ingle