“Yeah… for sure.”
“Yeah, I guess maybe I was turned on by
melody and harmony… plus I thought,
what if I got stuck with a big bass
drum? So I chose the bugle even though
I later found out it was limited to a few
notes in the key of B-flat, as you know.
Besides, if I’d chosen drums, I wouldn’t
be here with you today considering your
nephew, Vince, plays drums.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “But I had prior
experience on a brass instrument,
because in sixth and seventh grades
they recruited me into the concert
band at the DuSable Upper-Grade
Center. This was the feeder program
for DuSable, the high school, where
Captain Walter Dyett taught folks like
Dinah Washington, Johnny Hartman,
Nat King Cole, Eddie Harris and
the West Coast, uhh, trumpet player,
Oscar Brashear and so on.”
“Well, that just wasn’t your destiny
Bobby, now was it?”
“Yeah… I guess not… So that summer
I played and marched in the annual
Bud Billiken Day Parade.”
“I played in marching bands too Bobby,”
Miles said, smiling. “You know those
John Phillip Sousa licks like be-ba-bodop, ba-bo-dop, be-bo-dop (singing in
descending triad patterns). “I remember
some of those licks, still quote that shit
in some of my solos even now.”
“Wow… all this stuff is so interrelated!”
“That’s right Bobby, you can get ideas
from anything in life… sounds in the
street… rhythms from construction
sites… some of my favorites.”
“Oh my god… I never would have
thought of that,” I said, “that’s amazing.”
“Oh yeah?” Miles said? Laughing and
smiling. “I know Johnny Griffin and
Jug (referring to saxophonist Gene
Ammons) came outta there too.”
“Oh Yeah, that’s right,” I said. “So they
started me off on French horn; well
actually it was the mellophone, the one
that’s spherical shaped like a French horn
with trumpet valves.”
“Mellophone is in the key of F, too?”
Miles inquired.
“Yep,” I confirmed. Miles knew what I
was talking about.
“Small bore mouthpiece, tight
embouchure … high pressure.”
“Oh yeah… so you know about that, huh?”
“Yeah it’s a bitch,” he said, shaking
his head,”the trumpet is bad enough.
French-horn embouchure is so tight
you can’t take a day off or your lip is
fucking shot.”
“OK Bobby, I see what they did…
starting you with the hardest
instrument… smaller mouthpiece first
and going down to the large.
The embouchure for each new horn is
more and more relaxed. It would’ve
been hard to go the other direction.
You had a smart teacher Bobby.”
“Hmm, I didn’t realize th ???????5????)??????e????????????1?????(???????????????????????????)
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