Doc was easily… and is still easily one of the finest all-round trumpet players who ever lived. That was a tough piece to make music out of and he did so quite thoroughly. And to play that entire piece straight through With that immense sound of his is just an incredible feat of endurance.
Saw him in 1979, Norfolk Philharmonic Orchestra. He is said to have rehersed 5 hours with the orchestra, before performing. His rendition of Malaguena was magnificent.
One of the greatest trumpeters of ever lived! I once performed the SAMBA 3rd movement of this Werle concerto when Doc's lifelong friend, Col. Arnold Gabriel was our guest conductor in January 1973 with the great Mt.Carmel Mounties..under the leadership 👏 of the late Treasure Paul Semicek. It scared me to death, and I couldn't even eat all day. Afterwards Dad and Mom took me out for a pizza 🍕..I eat the whole damn thing myself! GOD BLESS YOU DOC SEVERINSEN 🙏..both on and off the bandstand..you are TOTAL CLASS personified. Your friend and sincere admirer always..Vaughn Nark 🎺
Would love to hear a recording of you playing the 3rd Movement of this Werle Trumpet Concerto #1, the SAMBA. I would imagine your performance would be amazing. Is a recording available?
The one time I was lucky enough to see Doc live, what amazed me the most was his ability to play so FULL (yes, loud) for such extended periods of time. I hear that here as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see him playing into a microphone, so it's just his own air. Excellent audio quality for a 53yr-old recording as well. Even though the piece is a bit odd, this may be the best recording I've ever heard of Doc. Certainly the best video.
Though a hodge podge of a piece, I for one found it rather interesting and certainly unique. And of course, Doc nailed it. What a great find. Thank you so much for sharing!
What a strange piece! Kind of like blending a really good Chinese dish with a really good Mexican dish and then adding barbeque sauce and strawberry ice cream. Pretty cool all the same. And Doc isn't human.
I was 16 years old when I saw this performance on PBS. Fifty-three years later, my opinion of the piece is the same, weird and unlistenable. Having said that, Doc is masterful, leaving only two or three players who could pull this off. Doc is great beyond measure!
I remember Doc commenting on how technically difficult this concerto was to play-he said that it was almost unplayable-and how pleased he was that he was able to flawlessly play it. He said that it was his greatest achievement and proudest accomplishment as a trumpet player. Doc certainly did execute this concerto extremely well. Unfortunately, I found this concerto to be an incoherent farrago of discordant musical ideas that did not fit together into a satisfying whole. Can you remember any pleasing melodies, indelible rhythms or interesting harmonies from this piece? I can’t.
It was stored on a web archive site, and I regularly do a variety of searches in a variety of places. But I'm not usually quite THIS lucky! Once I had it, I did some cleaning of the video and audio as much as possible.
Boring music. Sounds like alot of exercises (the old etudes) you would practice to get better on the horn. The ending almost tries to be listenable. But, Fantastic delivery on Doc's part!
