[Dixielandjazz] Plunger

[Henry C. Mason]

Robert,

Thanks for the kind words.. my level of talent is nowhere near high enough
to allow being confused with the "other" Henry Mason even if he was only a
mere trumpet player.  While I love Dixieland most of my playing and
virtually all of any recording I have done has been in big bands.   I just
try for the high notes and others get to play most of the jazz!.   I have
had a lifelong dispute with the trombone and my mission in a dixie band is
to avoid falling off the tailgate!

Henry

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 3:44 PM, ROBERT R. CALDER <serapion at btinternet.com>wrote:

> The handles on plungers business sounds a bit Freudian to me.
>
> Henry C. is to be complimented for using his middle initial, given the
> quality of recorded performances and the considerable talent of the
> trumpeter known as Henry Mason, not least on the recording by Cleo Gibson
> where the earlier Mason played so well his name was taken to be a
> nom-de-disque for Louis Armstrong.
>  The sage of Zurich, Johnny Simmen, wrote an article much, much later
> about what happened to that marvellous performer, whose talents became
> somewhat compromised by a desire to be as modern as possible, giving up too
> much of what he had from a desire to keep up with Roy Eldridge.
>
> Robert R. Calder
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Henry C. Mason <hmncro at gmail.com>
>
> I run a big band and as such the brass use plungers extensively.   One of
> our "bits"  is that I hold up a plunger and tell the audience that "yes,
> it is EXACTLY what you think it is.   You need to understand that in order
> to function properly with a brass instrument , this device has to be used
> for its original purpose for a minimum of two years (cries of ewwwwww from
> the female audience) ...  I understand that our trumpet players put the
> handles back on after every performance."
>
> Henry
>
>