Posted by Rick Denney on January 17, 2001 at 10:04:20:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Chicago York posted by Guy on January 16, 2001 at 18:14:34:
Sure, he used other instruments from time to time, but the York was the one constant in his career. When I saw the CSO perform in Austin in the mid 80's, it was the York that Jacobs played, and had hauled all over the country. The Holton would have been more rugged and less difficult to replace if necessary (and it was almost necessary on that tour), but it was the York he chose, and not because it was "at the hall."
The program in Austin included Mahler's 5th Symphony, but the concert started late. The reason was that the driver of the semi-truck that carried the CSO's instruments had fallen asleep on I-10 in West Texas, and had rolled the truck. Many instruments were destroyed, and the CSO postponed the start of the concert for an hour so they could get ready on borrowed instruments. But they delayed it another hour, because the instruments arrived and the musicians wanted to assess the damage and use their own instruments if possible. Such was the reputation of the CSO that the audience waited patiently.
Early that evening, I saw someone go on stage and warm up with a large Miraphone tuba (a 188 borrowed, I believe, from Steve Bryant). But when the concert began, it was Jacobs with the York. Steve (who was sitting in front of me at that concert) told me that Jacobs didn't want to play the concert if he could not play it on the York; instead he turned it over to his understudy until the horn arrived and was undamaged.
That tells me a lot about how he felt about that horn.
Rick "who doesn't see many Holton copies on the market" Denney