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Bob Day's flugelhorn |
Gary Sill's piano | |
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. The tone is fatter and usually regarded as more "mellow" and "dark" than that of the trumpet or cornet. The sound of the flugelhorn has been described as approximately halfway between a trumpet and a horn, whereas the cornet's sound has been described as approximately halfway between a trumpet and a flugelhorn. The flugelhorn has a similar level of agility to the cornet but is more difficult to control in the high register (from approximately written G above the staff), where in general it "slots" or locks onto notes less easily. It is not generally used for aggressive or bright displays as both trumpet and cornet can be, but tends more towards a softer and more reflective role. Joe Bishop, as a member of the Woody Herman band in 1936, was one of the earliest jazz musicians to make use of the flugelhorn. Shorty Rogers and Kenny Baker began playing it in the early fifties, and Clark Terry used it with Duke Ellington's orchestra in the middle fifties. Miles Davis helped further to popularize the instrument in jazz on the albums Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain, both of which were arranged by Gil Evans, although he did not use it much on later projects. Other prominent jazz flugelhorn players include Freddie Hubbard, Art Farmer, Hugh Masekela, Tony Guerrero, Jimmy Owens, Chet Baker, Maynard Ferguson, Terumasa Hino, Woody Shaw, Kenny Wheeler, Tom Harrell, Bill Coleman, Thad Jones, and Harry Beckett. Most jazz flugelhorn players use the instrument as an auxiliary to the trumpet, but in the 1970s Chuck Mangione gave up playing the trumpet and concentrated on the flugelhorn alone.  |
Gary Sill's personal piano is a Sohmer & Co. Model 57. During its many years in New York, Sohmer pianos were known as fine handcrafted instruments. Sohmer had a close informal association with the other major New York piano maker, Steinway, and many of Sohmer's manufacturing methods were similar to Steinway's. This famous, old, established house was one of the limited number still solely owned, controlled and directed by the immediate family of the founder up to it's closing in the late 1970's. Though tracing its origin back to 1860, the first Sohmer piano was actually built in 1872, when Hugo Sohmer founded the firm of Sohmer & Co., in New York. The factory occupied an entire building constructed to special requirements at 21 West 57 Street, New York, in an atmosphere that attracted connoisseurs of the arts. On display were pianos representative of the finest furniture styles; each model a decorative accomplishment and a fine musical instrument. Tone was the object of Hugo Sohmer's research, and the same unique tonal quality can be heard in the 5' 7" Studio Grand Sohmer piano on all the Gary Sill piano recordings. Interestingly, Sohmer invented the first baby grand in 1884 and quickly dominated the home market. The skills and technology used in the building of the larger pianos produced a volume and resonance of tone in the smaller sizes that continued for 89 years of improvement in a pursuit of perfection. The Sohmer family stated, without reservation or exception, that no other small grand approximated the Sohmer in tone and response. Sohmer alone among all great pianos never entered the competition for artist endorsement. Prices reflected only the cost of a top-ranking piano as made in a particularly efficient factory. The famous Sohmer creed was: "To build the finest piano that human integrity, skill, knowledge, craftsmanship, and family tradition can possible produce; to utilize the world's markets to procure the best materials regardless of cost; to maintain that quality unswervingly, and never to sacrifice one iota to gain an added profit, no matter how great; to preserve the integrity and individuality of the Sohmer institution free from outside affiliation or influences; and to he governed always and under all circumstances by sound principles and never by expediency." |