Musical Context

Part 6

The Trumpet and the Cornet in Jazz and Popular Music

Special jazz techniques

Vibrato, half-valves, growls and shakes lead to a larger argument: jazz transformed trumpet technique, yet its contribution remained strikingly undervalued.

By Michel Laplace

The first european horn symposium

A week in Trossingen brought leading horn players, Mozart debates, natural-horn controversies and lasting friendships at a landmark European gathering.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Part 3

The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music

Pluralism of expression since 1945

Bebop, cool jazz, free jazz and neo-classicism transformed the trombone after 1945, as new players, techniques and instruments pushed its boundaries.

By Michel Laplace

Miles Davis

Meeting with collard and mustard greens

A bag of greens opens an unusually intimate view of Miles Davis: cooking, horses, boxing, race and music collide far from the mythology of the stage.

By Robert L. Watt

Reflections on the brass player

Why do brass players so often resist new music? Vinko Globokar dismantles schools, routines, and traditions—and calls for a freer musical mindset.

By Vinko Globokar

Special Finland

The brass band tradition in Finland

Finland’s brass-band tradition grew from imperial reform into a nationwide phenomenon, before an equally systematic transformation brought the era to an end.

By Holger Fransman

Special Finland

Brass achieves academic respectability

Once treated as marginal, Finland’s brass septet tradition entered academic research, challenging where folk practice ends and music history begins.

By Kauko Karjalainen

Amboise, France, 3rd National Brass Band Competition

By Benny Sluchin

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 1

Jazz and the Horn

The horn was once considered incompatible with jazz until changing ideas of sound and musicians like John Graas quietly overturned that certainty.

By Jeffrey Agrell

What is a Brass Band?

Barrie Perrins traces the 19th-century origins, instrumentation and social role of the brass band—from industrial roots to international musical life.

By Barrie Perrins

Special Hungary

Barcs 1984

First International Brass Ensemble Competition

A small Hungarian town became a testing ground for brass chamber music, where young ensembles showed how quickly the discipline was coming of age.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Jazz and the Horn Series • Part 3

Jazz and the Horn

Getting started

For the classically trained horn player, jazz replaces the security of the printed page with listening, swing and improvisation—and a different kind of discipline.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Contemporary Hungarian Brass Music

From early decline to recent revival, Hungarian brass emerges through pedagogy, competitions and new chamber works, with Varasdy outlining key figures and shifting ensemble practices.

By Frigyes Varasdy

Individuality and Uniformity in Brass Players

As international standards reshape brass playing, musical individuality risks giving way to imitation, leaving tradition, ensemble work and personal conviction at stake.

By Hans-Joachim Drechsler

Yes or no? Beware!

Do we or do we not play transcriptions?

“Transcriptions: yes or no? Beware.” Roger Bobo challenges tubists to rethink repertoire, taste, and tradition in a bold call for musical judgment and artistic freedom.

By Roger Bobo

Special Hungary

Brass Chamber Music in Hungary

Ancient horns, military signals and postwar ensembles meet in a Hungarian brass tradition shaped as much by education and composers as by performers.

By Frigyes Varasdy

Women and brass: 3 Portraits

Barbara Stone, Betty Anderson, Kate Kaminga

Three British and Dutch conductors moved from brass band performance to leadership roles, confronting a scene still largely shaped by male traditions.

By Markus S. Bach

Scraps of Thoughts and Memories concerning “Passages” for trumpet and strings

Between waiting and movement, Passages reimagines soloist and orchestra—inviting exploration, listening, and the acceptance of the unexpected.

By Victor Fenigstein

Indeterminate instrumentation

A Way of Extending Instrumental Technic

Can technique go beyond notation? James Fulkerson explores new instrumental possibilities and argues that improvisation is key to expanding both technique and musical thinking.

By James Fulkerson

Editorial

As music becomes increasingly industrialized, Jean-Pierre Mathez argues for restoring local musical communities where composers, performers and audiences shape a shared identity.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Maurice Ravel and the new trombone

Dance-band trombonists reshaped orchestral expectations in the 1920s and 30s, leaving their mark on Ravel’s Boléro and a generation of players.

By Michel Laplace

Interview with Miles Anderson

Jean-Pierre Mathez traces Miles Anderson’s path from early training to orchestral and freelance work, expanding on the tension between livelihood and artistic pursuit.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Can jazz performance be taught?

A profile of Charlie Shoemake

By Thomas Stevens

Empire Brass Quintet

Portrait in brief

From New York to Boston, five brass players built a chamber music identity rooted in Ewald, early music and a string-quartet approach to ensemble sound.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez