New York Trumpet Ensemble

 As a trombonist, it is very easy to be too focused in my musical listening.  There are many trombonists and small ensembles that are worth listening to.  As a result, I know that I sometimes avoid large ensembles of other instruments.   For this week, I wanted to remedy that issue by listening to the New York Trumpet Ensemble.  

Here is a description of the ensemble from Summit Records:

"The New York Trumpet Ensemble was formed and founded in 1974 by Gerard Schwarz in order to record the groundbreaking recording A Festival of Trumpets for NoneSuch records. It was the first recording of many newly discovered works for multiple trumpets by Heinrich Bieber, Samuel Scheidt, Giovanni Gabrieli and other baroque era composers.

During the 1980’s, The New York Trumpet Ensemble produced a number of baroque trumpet recordings and performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Madeira Bach Festival and the Vermont Mozart Festival.

In the 1990’s, Mark Gould assumed the leadership of the ensemble and changed the direction of the music. In 1991, The New York Trumpet Ensemble recorded Trumpets In Stride (Summit Records; itunes) and a new era was born. The ensemble began to perform traditional jazz arranged for the unusual combination of 4 trumpets, piano and tuba. Their concerts of the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Bix Biederbecke and Hoagy Carmichael were very popular throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan.

A few years later, The New York Trumpet Ensemble was temporarily retired when Mr. Gould’s first son was born. The demands of family and the Metropolitan Opera were too much for the group and it was disbanded, to be re-born in 2010. Since then the ensemble has demonstrated great versatility in its performances of both classical and jazz music, with a variety of programs encompassing a wide range of musical styles and genres ranging from Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington to Herbert L. Clarke and Palestrina."

This particular recording is from their "A Festival of Trumpets" album.  The performers for the album were Gerard Schwartz, Allan Dean, Mark Gould, Thomas Lisenbee, Raymond Mase, Louis Ranger, Lee Soper, and John Ware.