Entertainment For Lively Minds
Trumping away.
Lets hear it for the trumpet! That most reviled of instruments in the rock (that's R.A.W.K.)canon, loved only by jazzers and mexicans. Were we not all told, at the knee of NME, that trumpets = loser. Over the years I had always thought this pretty sound advice, and the appearance of said horn in music usually felt, you know, wrong, viz the entire output of Roddy Lorimer in the 80s, or the double trumpets of Earth, Wind and More Wind. Of course, a single trumpet in combination with sax and/or trombone was deemed acceptable for soul music, allowing for my mere acknowledgement of this as a music form than blanket acceptance of its worth. But I am now old, Father Archie, and the Memphis Horns have taught me the error of my ways, chucking out expertly parped trumpet solos in the midst of their masterly backings in the music I now embrace. Elsewhere, my defining moment was probably the solo in "O Patti", where Miles Davis transformed an already immaculate Scritti Politti song into something near transcendental. Now I can't get enough, waxing lyrical about the joy of the mariarchaicism in the works of Chumbawamba and Cake.
Come on, fellas, jazz aside, another conversion I have absorbed, what is your favourite trumpet in rock?
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it may be a cornet
but the solo (by Chet baker?) on ship building is quite affecting.
Damn!
You beat me to it. My favourite trumpet solo in pop/rock, ever.
Beat me as well
The very first trumpet solo I thought of.
The second I thought of was Chris Botti on Natalie Merchant's Break Your Heart. When she appeared on Later our own Guy Barker stood in and did a fantastic job.
so it's offical it's the best trumpet solo
and I win coz I "baggsied it" first hurrah!
Somehow I just stumbled onto this...
Hmmmmm
I now understand again why I hated the trumpet. I had, however, always wondered what Donald T did before he became rich. I suppose with his name it was always going to be a cert.....
I bought one the other day off Ebay
with the intention of starting an Afrobeat group, I looked at all the instruments Fela Kuti had in his band and decided that since it only has three buttons the trumpet must be the easiest to play. After getting it home from the post office and blowing experimentally into it I managed to make the loudest sound I have ever heard. I put it back in the box, fearful the rest of the street would come round with burning pitchforks, and haven't touched it since. However I now have a mute so I shall be giving it another go.
Anyone in the East Anglian region fancy playing djembe or trombone in a beginners Afro funk collective?
No, thought not.
Count me in...
(assuming 'beginners' is the operative word)
Starlings
By Elbow, on Seldom Seen Kid.
Joyous blasts of noise that highlight, and accentuate, the ethereal beauty of the underlying melody and lyrics.
If you will.
I will.
Erm, that's it.
“Not those guitars they’re too noisy and crude”
This has brass galore (though Dexys never had a trumpet). And it rocks. Like billy-o.
Trumpet
I love heavy metal with a trumpet wailing like crazy all over it.
Check out The Painter's Palette by Ephel Duath on eMusic:
http://www.emusic.com/album/The-Painter-s-Palette-The-Painter-s-Palette-...
Also I love The National Anthem by Radiohead.
Anyone know of anymore wailing heavy trumpets on great rock music?
I think Moment in the Sun by
I think Moment in the Sun by Clem Snide has some lovely trumping on it..
Love Expression - It's Jo and Danny...beautiful, beautiful song...
This
or this
or this
Trumpet guitar dual anyone?
And a bit of cornet from the midlands greatest.
Sub pop early 90's anyone?
Eric Matthews
Thanks for that, I'd never seen that video before. LOVE the tune..I was forever putting it on mixtapes as an opener as it was/ is/ remains a belter!
I'd like to say
The Who 'Pictures of Lily' as it is such a great record but it seems it may be a French Horn that blasts out at the er 'Elvis' moment as it were, as in the moment of climax according to You Tube clip.
So I will say 'Maybe the people between the whatsit and the thingy in Clarkdale' or whatever it's called by Love instead off 'Forever Changes', one of my favourite tracks from that album, and with a nice latin, mariachi feel going on.
slight tangent
I was pointed to some excellent covers of house anthems done by a Fairey Brass band by the excellent
http://dusty7s.blogspot.com/2008/09/horny.html
they are strangely moving (this may be Northern thing I know).
Pah Pah
Grand Drive's Sleepy has a very handy slice of trumpeting.
They are also a good contender for a great band who didn't quite make it.
You Never Never Know
by Dislocation Dance featured a lovely trumpet solo as I recall. How I wish I could place it here. But I can't.
Best trumpet in rock?
Calexico if indeed they are rock. The trumpet on Neil Youngs Chrome Dreams is pretty good too. Aside from the obvious Miles Davis I am also taken with Hugh Masekala - the trumpet still sounds divine but the backing band do sound a little dated.
Trumpet yes, sax no
It's funny how there are still plenty of records with trumpets, yet the sax has almost completely disappeared.
This is my favourite "trumpet record"
CTA
How about the solo trumpety bit about 3 minutes into "Introduction" off the first Chicago album? Makes a chap wish he'd studied harder in music lessons.
Alone Again Or by Love is my favorite.
And You Set The Scene from the same lot is pretty blooming fine as well. Computer very slow today so in the admittedly unlikely event that a large amount of the Word community have never heard Forever Changes, you'll need to look it up yourselves on youtube.
Anyone heard "Look At Me When I Rock Witchoo" by The Black Kids? It has the wonderful lyric "I say baby, you say thump it/ All you wanna hear is Gabriel's trumpet" which is lyric of the year as far as I'm concerned...
Another vote for Love
That Mariachi vibe combined with the acoustic/electric balancing act is utterly sublime.
What about the oft-forgotten Lazarus by The Boo Radleys. The trumpet pretty much plays the same meoldy over and over but when layered to bejaysus it fairly knocks your head off.
And I second the rejection of the saxophone. As part of the horn section it's fine, but on its own it's just awful. Am I the only one who leaps for the off switch at the merest hint of Clarence Clemmons?
Hello!
Can you hear me! Are my posts invisible today!
Sorry. When coffee attacks.
Depends where the reader is -
I'm at work where youtube is blocked, so your post is largely white space to me :-)
You should hand in your notice forthwith
Do your employers have no heart?
Nae problems
I was supporting your post, chucking in another vote, etc. (I can see the stills of youtube stuff but can't watch them).
On a strangely connected note, I always get Collibosher mixed up with Wide Eyed Girl on the Wall. Doesn't one or the other have some smashing trumpets in there?
That'd be Wide Eyed Girl
Damn good call. This is it for all those firewallers out there:
Absolutley no idea who would have been playing horns on it though.
If rock music was a serious musical artform it would off all bass players and replace them with Tuba players for some serious bottom end action. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band:
I agree with the nomination for 'Shipbuilding'
Here is Costello interviewed about how Chet Baker got involved. Nice Van Morrison anecdote at the end too ...
http://www.jazztimes.com/columns_and_features/web_exclusive/Elvis_costel...
Up with People
... by Lambchop - there's a great trumpet bit at the end, just as the gospel choir are starting to wail...
Some Prog.....
I know it's a cornet rather than a trumpet,but Mark Charig's contributions on "Islands" and "Lizard" by King Crimson should not go unmentioned,I think.
Dim the lights
Pour yourself something mellow and enjoy the smooth jazz stylings of Midnight Without You by Chris Botti & The Blue Nile.
wot no Terry Edwards..?
..his brass verions of Mary Chain tunes (complete with brass simulated feedback) are fab.
Not hip enough?
Maybe not, but the trumpet solo on Mark Ronson/Lily Allen's Oh My God is wonderful. It must be the coolest improvisation to grace a chart song in years.
Trumpet Solos
How about "Torch" by Soft Cell or the magnificence of "Reward" by The Teardrop Explodes?
This one you may have missed....
On the way into work this morning, and how many times have I started my entries with that phrase, but, anyway, I was listening to a varied selection of new downloads, chancing upon a trio of songs from "Soul of a Man:Al Kooper live". This is the man providing a live retrospective of his career, albeit 14 years ago, in 1994, with the musicians of the various stages re-uniting with him. This includes Blood, Sweat & Tears, on this release called "Child is Father to the Man" for, presumably, copyright reasons. Anyhow, trumpets, on "My days are numbered" there is a fantastic trumpet duel (2 trumpets, previously disallowed by me on principle) featuring Randy Brecker and Lew Soloff. Go listen. No, really, go listen.
Elsewhere the massed horn ensemble is so tight and loud you can be sure the city fathers of Jericho ain't gonna want them to come playing round there!!
Holes
Is that not a trumpet on "Holes by Mercury Rev?
Makes me wanna burst into tears.
A horn by any other name...
A few moments came to mind. Firstly, Elvis Costello’s father, Ross McManus, on his son’s ‘Invasion Hit Parade’ from Mighty Like A Rose. Secondly, the title track of "Come on Feel the Illinoise' by Sufjan Stevens (first spotted one minute in).
At a tangent, cornet-wise (I think), try "We Are Nowhere and It’s Now" by Bright Eyes (1:36)'. There's also a lovely French horn line in "A Love as Strong As Death" by The Tears (2:34).
Apologies if I have messed up my trumpets and cornets...