Dizzy Gillespie was once asked who was the best trumpet player he had heard. Dizzy replied "technically the best trumpet player I ever heard was Harry James."
Harry James was truly amazing, one of a kind. But with all due respect to Dizzy, ain’t no such thing as “the best” in music. Just too many ridiculously talented players out there (some of whom we no doubt haven’t even heard yet) and ultimately it’s somewhat subjective. Not like sports where someone is the last man (person) standing.
@@waynewells3297 💯 correct! So many gifted trumpet players in all genres! Chet Baker was never a technical player but his approach to music was a gift. I can name many other masterful horn players.
@@da11king I hear ya. I was a professional trombonist for many years, and I loved so many trumpet players, all for different reasons. The only one who ever made me feel like trumpet just had to be the most fun instrument ever was Freddie Hubbard. He pulled off a unique trick for me, making trumpet sound easy. I knew better, because NO brass instrument is easy, but he made it sound like just maybe it was actually easier than trombone.
he plays this piece like its SO EASY but when you see the sheetmusic what he actualy played its insane probably one of the hardest sheets to play in the world
Harry James is definitely one of the legends of the Big Band era. He actually taught me trumpet lessons when I was a little girl and I owe him and my mother a lot for my gifts in music. I'm not a trumpet player, but I'm sure I'm not the only musician that Harry has inspired over the years regardless of their instrument.
I am so jealous as a trumpet player myself. I did a whole project for school on the trumpet based around this song going very in depth. Man this song showcases a lot of techniques and variation
Al Lerner, from Palm Springs, you say? I spoke with him on the phone many years ago, and borrowed some photos to make copies for myself. He was very generous and patient about it. My condolences on his passing.
You got that right ,but that was in the height of the big band era where trumpets ruled . Then came the 60's ushering in the era of guitar heros .Then came rap and music has been all downhill after .that .But King James was light years ahead of his time !
The vast majority of performances of this I've heard have been incredibly stiff classical musicians playing it with virtually no expression and zero sizzle in their sound! Shame really, because Harry James is clearly just as good technically as any classical player at this piece, yet adds so much individuality, spice and excitement. Wish I could hear it the other way round!
I've never heard anyone play a horn like James could, even to this day. When you consider that the recording equipment in '42 was crummy by today's standards, you realize just how good he could really play. 5 Stars!
Очень необычно в исполнении то, что при быстром исполнении шестнадцатых, слышится каждая нота. Она округлая, наполнена тембром и настроением. Исполнение , по уверенности звучания с очень огромным запасом. Музыка от сердца, от души. Музыка в каждой ноте. Фантастическая артикуляция. Считаю, что это культовое произведение, которое должно исполняться ( в классе) каждым трубачем солистом. Это как концерт Арутюняна с оркестром. Однозначно это исполнение не превзойдено современными исполнителями. (Если есть альтернатива , сбросте ссылку) Спасибо за выложенное видео и возможность стать счастливее от этой музыки!
Thank you for the list of trumpet players! I play sax, and we just played Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" in our university jazz band. That was sooo much fun. Since, I've bought just about every Freddie hubbard song. I will def be checking out the others. Arturo, and Maynard, and of course Wynton are high on my list. :)
Re: the lip-sync issue, while the audio may have been sync'd in that what you're hearing may not be the performance you're seeing, James absolutely could and regularly did play this chart in live performance and many other pieces that would seem "impossible" to us mere mortals. He didn't have to fake anything. He was regarded as one of the most capable players of his day.
Harry James is/was a wonderful virtuoso performer, but unlike some other technical greats, he had STYLE. He makes you want to listen to him. I'm not from his generation so I don't know, but I hope he got the attention he deserved.
The reason it might have been sync'd would simply be that a movie sound stage might not be acoustically ideal to record audio. Back then audio editing was fairly crude, you couldn't make seamless edits like with tape or today with digital - you were actually expected to be able to play. Whether it was live or dubbed in it was Harry and his band playing.
Likewise. I saw the 79 down votes and was a bit puzzled. This was a superhuman performance. The ease that he played this was amazing. Even if I spent 1,000,000 in the Arban book, I would never be able to come close to this.
James was using a special gold plated Selmer at this time. Louis Armstrong used the same Selmer model all his career. James switched to King horns in the 50s. The Paraduba mouthpiece really makes no difference, he simply had a contract to endorse it. He was a true child prodigy, read the book Trumpet Blues.
for my money, harry james had the sweetest horn sound of all the big bands. I can recognize his style instantly. He was as "cool" or "cooler" than any modern big star today
My dad played music professionally for many years and was a HUGE Harry James fan! He always said Harry had the best technique AND tone of any trumpet player he had ever listened to. After watching this I have to ask---could Miles or Dizzy, as great as they were, play this piece the way Harry James plays it?!! I really don't know if they could!!
Since Harry James is a unique player and also from an entirely different era than Dizzy and Miles, its hard to say whether they could 'duplicate' his sound. Now did they have the ability to play absurdly well? Yes. Could they probably lead this big band piece and hold their own? Of course. Don't forget Dizzy was an innovator in his own right. He changed the game through playing alternate fingerings in order to get smoother runs or play the same note twice in a row and give listeners the feel that he was playing two different notes in a row. Miles was also an innovator in composition with how he was able to let the music drive the solo, something that's ridiculously underrated yet was innovative at the time. Don't be fooled, when Miles dropped his classics there were thousands of players rushing to transcribe every note he put down. These men are all amazing instrumentalists with their own styles and contributions to jazz, trumpeting and music as a whole. I think its unfair to pit one player against the other unless we're talking a specific aspect (i.e. Maynard probably had the most ridiculous register out of everyone - Arturo included).
Lord, Miles couldn't have played this. Of course, he wouldn't have wanted to. I'm a huge Miles fan, but Harry deserves credit for being a jazz player who could have had a career as a classical guy. Few in jazz could do so. Harry is basically doing this as well, and with much the same sound/approach, as the brilliant Rafael Mendez. It doesn't diminish Miles to say he couldn't have played this. Harry couldn't have done Kind of Blue, which in all honesty is a greater artistic achievement anyway.
Thanks for posting this clip. In the past I had never been too impressed with Harry's talent, other than I liked some of his songs, but this vid shows what a great talent Harry really is. Some people may see this as him showing off, but I believe a musician should establish themselves by conquering hard to do music, which this song certainly is. No one can rightly deny that Harry is an excellent trumpet player..
@@jazzblack666 Different kinds of trumpet players. Both that you mention were incredible, but nowhere in the same class technically as Harry. Perhaps on par musically though, right?
Don't know if I've heard of him doing that. I think I've heard him play up to a high G, but double c range was mostly dudes like Cat Anderson and Maynard Ferguson.
@olliea123 Large bore King modified trumpet. He had the valve assembly moved closer to the bell to accomodate his long arms. He was and is still admired for his technical proficiency and a gorgeous tone. Bunny Berigan had just as gorgeous a tone playing "I can't get started," shame he drank himself to death so young.
Holy frickin mackerel. Incredible. If any other trumpet player has ever approached Mr. James level of proficiency I'd like to know who they were/are! I've known a lot of people that could play fast but not as cleanly or with the emotion and range Harry James had. RIP Harry!!!
I love his style of trumpet playing. It is so unique. No one can beat Harry James. I truly admire his trumpet skills! He's the only trumpet player who I believe has the RIGHT to be conceited Haha
Holy....okay so let me get this out. I've played trumpet since I was 12 years old and I'm 21. I've always had my own style and taste as to how it should be played....and while I've listened to more jazz and blues and every other type of music that I can't list, and heard many incredible trumpeters live (including the late great Maynard Ferguson), this guy takes the cake. He plays exactly how I would if I were a virtuoso like him. Hands down, the best ever. At least my favorite....which makes him the best ;-)
Hello, I am a young guy with Big Band Blood. Both great uncles played in the bands from the late 30s to the 40s... Then again in the 80s to their last days in the late 90s and up to 3 or 4 years ago. My grandmother met Harry in '42 or '43, dated a trumpet player in high school that knew Harry. I have a signed photo of his she gave me! Love this clip, a fun movie with the Andrews Sisters! Harry had total control over the trumpet, a true master!
Virtuosity!!! BRAVO Maestro JAMES! An Artie Shaw approach for trumpet! Do that for two hours and your lips will bleed. Where has talent like this gone?
Joe Heasley I would tend to agree with you! Yes! Grand is the word alright! Pity the demand for this type of music is down. Speaking only for myself (and I am unanimous in this) I do not like what replaced that music. Well... I do love Elvis, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, the martyr who authored "What's Going On?" ... but what I would tend to qualify what we hear today as brain washing...
Joe Heasley Points well taken. "Generations present" have always had this tendency to fear the new. We do have to watch out for that generation inherited stiffness. Some rappers do turn out to be more than descent poets --OK, great poets!
@wilfred0203123 He was a trumpet Virtuoso who could play anything written (within reason, of course). His style was referred to as smaltz by stiff-knecks that hated anyone that didn't play mindless jazz! He will always be known and admired for his technical skill and gorgeous tone, matched only by Bunny Berigan of "I can't get started" fame.
Heres a joke I heard somewhere else on youtube that describes trumpet players: How many trumpet players does it take to screw in a light bulb? Only one but 20 other ones will come over and say they could have done it better.
The 1 and only Harry James> The Greatest that ever was and the Best that will ever be. Just Like Astaire was the greatest dancer and Buddy Rich the greatest drummer they are 1 of a kind. Awesome video thanks for posting 5*****
America's secret weapon during WW2 ,.King James ! At 1:34 he plays an arban type segment using chromatics and accents on particular notes ,I'm learning that today ! All I have to do is dissect it one piece at a time and I'll add it to my repertoire of licks for future engagements .
When I saw him at 0:35 I was like...this is the coolest fucking trumpet player I've ever heard in my life. Soooooooo smooth and his tone is sexxxxxxxyyyyyyy as fuckkk. This guy was way ahead of his time the way he played.
@mariesalas1 I'm glad you found the great Harry James, one of the greatest and most influential trumpet players of all time. Hopefully you'll check out some other Harry James videos on RU-vid, but also check out Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry, Arturo Sandoval, Cat Anderson, Al Hirt, MAynard Ferguson, Wynton Marselles, Rafael Mendez and Alan Vizuitti and his version of Zig Zag. Jaw-dropping.
Absolutely nothing he couldn't and didn't do on the horn and with that solid tone. I am sure I heard the horn scream rape several time during this one. What is to dislike? Are you all deaf or just stupid? This guy plays music not just a bunch of high notes as fast as he can all jumbled together. Although I have heard him do that to,Llive yet.
inkey2 - i agree, most (not all) modern stars today compete who will hit a higher note or play faster in the upper reg. while they forget the musical aspect which harry reminds us of - that u can make some really nice magic in the first 2 octaves as well. For example Arturo Sandoval sounds best when playing a normal tune in the first two octaves, without raping the trumpet superfast in the 3d/4th with his insane and sometimes senseless and non-musical improvs..
@newcat616 Then you don't know your trumpet history. Listen to the great Rafael Mendez. Harry was great, no doubt. But Mendez could blast through anything faster and definitely more clearly. This takes nothing away from Harry. Great trumpeter and musician. But you need to become aquainted with the master, Mendez.
I listen to a lot of really good players some great play Harry's stuff. While I am listening I think they sound really great. Then I go back and listen to Harry' and realize that he is the best. There is just something about his tone and style its is really intangible, but they can't compare to him. All this before the advancements in equipment we have now. I think guys like Harry would get there sound and play as they did with anything they picked up, not so sure that is true of many players today.
My dad was a jazz trumpeter and Harry James was his hero. My dad had a photo of me as a baby that was actually signed by Harry James, wishing me a happy life. He had it in his wallet until the day he died. My mom gave it to me and I still have it to this day.
Private Buckaroo is actually a pretty good movie. Lots of H. James and the Andrews Sisters. It's slow in the beginning with a sub-plot where the one of the Three Stooges with the bowl cut is trying to take his girlfriend out to an expensive restaurant, but it picks up after that.
Harry James is most certainly my favorite trumpet player from the big band era and probably of all time. I mostly like how he doesnt play in the upper register. I am sure he could but that would have ruined is nice sound with the stuff n the staff.
Agreed. lol Although, since there is no conductor, everyone looks to the soloist for the ques, which he gives with the nod of the bell of his trumpet. :)
@@samuelglassburn2169 I've been paying a lot of attention to this in RU-vid trumpet videos lately. I'm seeing Maynard play double-G with 1 & 2, but not all the time. I think I also saw Maynard play a high-E with 3rd valve. I think you're right, it's probably a horn-specific thing. I'll say one thing for sure - Harry's D's in this video were strong and clear.
In the late 1950's, Harry was in Vegas having a drink with George T Simon, the musical reviewer for Downbeat magazine. Conrad Gozzo (who was playing in Harry's band off and on at that time) interrupted the conversation and asked Harry to loan him a sawbuck ($10.00) to cover part of a gambling loss (Gozzo was an addicted gambler). Harry gave it to him, and as he left, turned to Simon and said "there goes the best trumpeter in the world". Quite a compliment.
OK Here's one for the musical experts. In this and in later videos I've seen of Harry and his orchestra, harry doesn't seem to spend a lot of time "directing" his guys or giving them cues. He announces a piece and they play. No muss, no fuss, just a great performance. So how about it was Harry a task master? Did he insist on drilling his troops?
BrickPa I'm sure he ran them enough to play based off of where he was and the same for how he played. But if you look early on when he isn't playing he does the queues with his trumpet. I'm sure it's a healthy mix of the band playing off of him and he playing off of the band.
