[Dixielandjazz] In Defense of Euphoniums

[dhs2 at peoplepc.com]

Dear Listers:

Tom Wiggins wrote:

That might all well be true, but I heard listmate Bob Romans' band play
a lovely tune today with three of the buggers, and it was indeed very
nice, however they also featured their reed player Pete Main on a
Sarusaphone solo that has to be the gawd auwfullest sounding instrument
I have heard in a long time.   Not Pete's playing but the sound of the
instrument which must have been the early prototype for a Bari sax.  At
any case it is a good thing it never caught on big :))   Sounded like a
Kazoo on Steroids :))

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Bob Romans may wish to enlighten us, but I would be willing to bet that his
three players were a) playing regular euphoniums, or b) playing
double-belled euphoniums using the big bells.  Careful readers of this list
may recall that I have previously identified the euphonium as a valid jazz
instrument, capable of producing a very pretty sound.  I suspect that a good
sound can be produced from the smaller bell of a double-belled euphonium, if
one went to Yamaha, Willson, Besson or one of the other top euphomium
builders and special-ordered a professional-grade horn with a second bell.
A really good euphonium costs $2500 - 6000 as it is, never mind the expense
associated with the additional architecture.

I am not sure my desire for novelty runs that deep.  In the meantime, the
older double-belled euphoniums have all of the charm and pitfalls of older
brass instruments.  Instrument manufacture has come a long way in the last
50 years, especially in conical brass instruments.

Regards,
Dave Stoddard
Round Rock, TX