Posted by Tracy B. on March 31, 2002 at 23:17:04:
In Reply to: Easter gig sermon stories posted by Easter Bunny on March 31, 2002 at 13:40:47:
Here's a few for your reading pleasure:
1. A trombonist zones out during sermon and forgets that he locked his slide. This became apparent when his 2nd position A natural became a 1st position 1/2 tone frack.
2. This Easter, I had to play both services in a church in Shreveport, LA. The pastor manages to repeat the exact same sermon verbatim. The timing, facial expressions, tone of voice were almost exactly the same. Creepy.
3. Some of the trumpets I play with use their C trumpet when reading out of the hymnbook for Easter, in lieu of transposing. This is normally a great idea. One Easter, a good friend of mine reaches down and grabs his trumpet for the descant part on a hymn. For some reason, about half the page was a whole step off. Yeah, he reached down and grabbed his Bb.
4. I had the great honor of playing with Bobby Cheatham before he passed. Frequently on the slower hymns, the music director would encourage the trumpet players to improv on repeats. Usually by adding harmony, or a descant part. Cheatham was a master at this. One Easter, we we're doing a piece that contained alot of trumpet solos with improv. When we came to the last chord of this stately hymn, Mr. Cheatham unleashed this scalding, bluesey jazz lick to finish off the piece. It was like something out of Miles Davis! The guys and me loved it. Unfortunately, the congregation was so startled by this, they woke up.
Priceless!
Happy Easter and God Bless,
Tracy Bedgood