I just returned from a whirlwind two days at the ITG at Purchase, NY. There is lots of talent out there, and it was fun to hear such great players as Jon Sneider, Jon Faddis and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Alan Dean, and many, many others! The instrument displays were great, and the various vendors had tons of fun things for trumpet junkies. There was a lecture by Bud Herseth, and a panel of greats...Bud Herseth, Bill Vacchiano, Roger Voisin, and Mark Gould, discussing various aspects of the art of music and the trumpet...orchestral and otherwise. So many things were available to choose from that it would take either an expert at organization to decide where to go, or the conference would have to be at least two weeks longer. While wandering the halls, I even ran into one of my all time heros, Bob Nagel, the founder of the New York Brass Quintet. There were far too many people in attendance for me to mention all of them; I hope nobody feels slighted by omission in this note. I thank all of them for finding the time to visit with me.

I came to the ITG by invitation of Fred Mills, my colleague in the Canadian Brass for 25 years. When he found that I had decided to not perform with the quintet and branch out, forming my own solo career, he was kind enough to invite me to play on his program; it was called "arranging for brass", and Fred formed a brass ensemble to perform a group of works that he and his friends had arranged. Fred, who had been a great friend of Philip Jones, dedicated the entire workshop to the memory of Philip, and began the show with some Renaissance music the way Philip would have done. Notable among the other works that were performed on Fred's show was a great arrangement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat for Solo Trumpet and Brass Quintet. Fred recorded this work with the Rennquintett (Das Rennquintett), and the CD is available through Fred at fmills@uga.cc.edu; the music is to be available through Brassworks, and can be ordered through www.canbrass.com. This piece is really fun to play, and quite challenging for the quintet. There were also arrangements of "Georgia On My Mind", "Fascinatin' Rhythm", and "Brassmen's Holiday", all done by Sammy Nestico. Other pieces included works by John Williams and Luther Henderson, which Fred had adapted for expanded brass ensemble. The workshop was well attended and the reward was a standing ovation at the end.

It was a great pleasure for me to visit the ITG and see so many friends from years past; kudos should go to Graham Ashton and Jon Faddis for organizing such a fabulous event!

I look forward to seeing all of you and all of them in the near future as well.

A REMINDER...
Please feel free to join my egroup (RonRomm@egroups.com) and use this egroup as a forum for discussion of anything musical, especially as pertains to me and my playing of the trumpet and chamber music...or anything else...I am looking forward to your comments, questions, and suggestions for my future programs as well.

Cheers,
Ron Romm