Very nice post, Frogman! I see exactly where you are coming from now, and would agree. We are indeed drawing slightly different lines, and what you said about "clear and unique" stylistic voice makes more sense than anything else I have heard about why some don't dig him as much. He definitely has a more homogenous sound, as do more and more brass players nowadays, in the classical world as well. Regional differences in sound, even on my instrument, are becoming less and less, which is really kind of sad. Everyone is sounding more and more the same. It's a great sound, but there is much less variety. This issue has affected my own career negatively.
For those of you who are not musicians reading the above, a brief explanation in layman's terms - I used to sub regularly with one of the very finest orchestras in the country, when my former teacher was the principal. Well, when he took a sabbatical near the end of his career, suddenly the calls for me stopped. The younger guys in the section preferred to use a guy who was not as experienced as me, and who they had to correct more ensemble-type problems with than they did with me, simply because they preferred the horn he played on to mine (he sounded exactly like they did, whereas I had a slightly different sound, even though I was able to blend perfectly well). While the calls started again, once my former teacher came back, I saw the writing on the wall for working there once my teacher retired, but luckily I got the job I have now anyway, so it didn't matter in the end. I have also had the satisfaction of hearing my former teacher publicly criticize his former colleagues for how they operate now in their close minded fashion since his retirement. I'm not going to say anymore about who and where or anything like that - I like to maintain relative anonymity here to feel free to make comments I would otherwise be uncomfortable making.
For those of you who are not musicians reading the above, a brief explanation in layman's terms - I used to sub regularly with one of the very finest orchestras in the country, when my former teacher was the principal. Well, when he took a sabbatical near the end of his career, suddenly the calls for me stopped. The younger guys in the section preferred to use a guy who was not as experienced as me, and who they had to correct more ensemble-type problems with than they did with me, simply because they preferred the horn he played on to mine (he sounded exactly like they did, whereas I had a slightly different sound, even though I was able to blend perfectly well). While the calls started again, once my former teacher came back, I saw the writing on the wall for working there once my teacher retired, but luckily I got the job I have now anyway, so it didn't matter in the end. I have also had the satisfaction of hearing my former teacher publicly criticize his former colleagues for how they operate now in their close minded fashion since his retirement. I'm not going to say anymore about who and where or anything like that - I like to maintain relative anonymity here to feel free to make comments I would otherwise be uncomfortable making.