Mr.Alessi, hearing you play Alto, Tenor, and Bass trombone is a real treat to my ears!!! Thank you for providing the trombone community with such rich information and music!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! -John
It occurs to me as we enter Christmas week (must be almost there as I spent an hour and a half shoveling snow today) that I wish we had a control with which to send one comment to numerous artists on RU-vid, without whose artistry this chamber-pot of a year would have been unbearable. Artists like James Markey and Toby Oft of my favorite Symphony Orchestra (and my favorite instrument); Ricardo Molla Albero; Stephen Verhelst; Carol Jarvis; the Barclay Brass; Gelp99 for my DCI memories; Charles Frost, who I fear has left us, but whose videos live on; Chick Corea; Jorgen van Rijen Joseph Alessi; Ben van Dyk; the list goes on and on. How many days while being worried about this virus, or the dismal state of my country's political life, have I been lifted out of my dark places and brought to somewhere where music plays and great artists continue to make great art, although I can't go sit in Symphony Hall or Jordan Hall and lose myself for an evening. There are many things about RU-vid I detest. If I trip over one more conspiracy video, or one comment totally bereft of soul, and/or imagination, or empathy, I feel like I'm going to throw my laptop out the window. But by and large, for me it's outweighed by the humanity and artistry of folks like those I listed above, and I'm sure many more. Thank you for the hours of pleasure and more important, the peace, and the inspiration (even though listening to Markey and Oft make me want to met down my old Shires tenor at times). May all the best of this season flow back to you and your families. At least I didn't hunt down Mr Markey after the Brass Bash for an autograph this year (as I did in 2019). I guess something good came out of quarantine. Joy and Peace, and music, this holiday season, and sincere thanks. You folks are the best, and at a time when we (I) needed it the most.
Nicely read the two intro sentences. ^^ And: alessi an trombone! fab! and the Brahms piece on tenor... also interesting. Looking forward to getting some slide monsters material this way!
