Jazz for aficionados

Comments welcomed. I don't have the words!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XIjGei8zG8

Cheers

Leersfool, although I liked all three, it was apparent that Jim Varner was the baddest, he blows and handles that horn like some of the best jazz tenor sax players.

I sincerely appreciate your input, it's helping me to get a feel for the French horn, or do musicians just say "The horn" and everyone knows they're referring to "the French horn"?

This is the first thing that caught my ear after midnight, it's James Moody's, "Last Train From Overbrook".

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=028UoUkO7zc

Enjoy the music.

Rok, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and since I'm a very old dog, that goes double for me; however, I'm trying to find some old tricks, that may be applicable to the new ones you're trying to teach me.

"Carmen" is the very first to come to mind. I recall when I was a preteen, this family with a very beautiful daughter named Carmen, liked to perform this in the park nearby. Although she was a teenager, which made her much older than me, I was in love; consequently, I also fell in love with the opera "Carmen". This family also liked "Bolero", consequently I fell head over heels in love with "Bolero"; here are the both of them. (I was too shy to even speak to Carmen)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPQ2lFUQLrs&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL-wyNyb4oUIHMjqwxFAltjklxWrZZZGS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgpEru9lhw

Enjoy the music.

Beautiful enough to make even O-10, get 'ligion!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkUoxCGPWrw

Cheers

Orpheus, to answer your question first - yes, it is normally just called "the horn," and everyone knows that that means French horn. There's really nothing French about it, and no one knows why it acquired that name in the first place. The International Horn Society officially changed the name of the instrument back in the 70s to Horn. Of course, many of the general public are totally unaware of this. But if a classical musician or classical music lover mentions "the horn," they are definitely talking about my instrument (shame on them if not, they should know better, LOL).

Rok - if the women in the NY Phil were wearing brightly colored dresses, this was certainly a special occasion. That is definitely NOT normal, and they do not normally do it, I assure you. Black is the norm, whether very formal or less so sometimes now. I think that was a special New Year's Eve or New Year's Day thing, if I remember?? I did hear about that concert.

The Vienna Phil is pretty much the last standing all-male orchestra, and even they have had a couple of women in their ranks in the last couple of decades. I believe their current harpist is female, but I think that's it at the moment.

There are a great many women in all US orchestras now, and in most around the rest of the world as well. Even on my instrument, the majority of students at the top music schools in the country are female, and this is slowly beginning to be reflected in the professional ranks.

There are many CDs available of many US orchestras, and yes, the best ones are as good as any in the world. Which are the top ten would still generate furious debate (either speaking of the whole world, or just US orchestras). The five you mentioned are the traditional "big five" US orchestras, but there are at least three others who merit very serious consideration (to be in the top five, I mean). The Pittsburgh Symphony is certainly top ten in the world right now, as is the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Other great American orchestras are Minnesota (what is happening there is an absolute travesty), LA, San Francisco, National, Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Cincinnati. All of these are considered top tier groups. There are a great many second tier groups which are also world class ensembles - Baltimore, Houston, Nashville, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Utah. I could go on, I have left a few out. I do play in one of the ones I have listed, though I do not want to say which, as I want to maintain relative anonymity here, so I can feel free to post what I like about conductors, orchestras, musicians, etc., without fear of offending colleagues. I did NOT list these groups in any sort of ranking order, by the way. I have friends in all of them...

About the recordings, most orchestras now self-produce their recordings, so you would need to go to their websites to find current recordings for all but the very largest groups. Also, a great way to check out different orchestras and what they are doing is to see if they stream old concerts, or live ones. Or go online and find their local radio stations that do their broadcasts. You can listen to so many more orchestras nowadays this way than ever before.