Been very busy lately, but wanted to chime in on the trumpet talk, being a horn player. I concur with everything Frogman says about the mariachi style, and I grew up hearing a ton of it. Interestingly, they also often use a tuba in the bass, with the same "punchy" style of articulation, as Frogman put it. Kind of hilarious, really, but fun.
I also get very tired of folks who try to claim Wynton is somehow "not musical." These type of comments are almost never backed up with a genuine argument, and smack of anti-intellectualism to me. A very similar victim of this in the classical world is the great pianist Alfred Brendel. I strongly object to the attitude that someone who is very smart and educated and a great teacher can't possibly have any soul as well. His education didn't get him to where he is at the top of the jazz world, though of course his intelligence helped greatly - it was his playing and yes, his soul. One simply couldn't develop the incredible musical versatility he possesses without soul.
For some disclosure - I have met and spent some time with him, actually outside of the music world, interestingly enough - I never got to play with or for him, though we talked music. It was a long time ago now, and he probably wouldn't remember me, but I spent enough time with him then to realize that he is a very passionate, soulful individual. And a heck of a basketball player, at least at that time, which was slightly more than twenty years ago now.
