Solo Trombone Recordings (jazz)

[EriKon]

So, I've already asked about trombone recordings at another thread, but this one is more specific.

I'm currently analyzing lots of solo jazz trombone recordings (like really solo, no accompany at all) and I wonder if there are any more recommendations and hints besides of what I'll list you below thanks guys!

Solo trombone recordings: (albums)
Albert Mangelsdorff - Trombirds
Albert Mangelsdorff - Tromboneliness
Albert Mangelsdorff - Albert Mangelsdorff Solo
Albert Mangelsdorff - Purity
George Lewis - The Solo Trombone Record
Conny Bauer - Der gelbe Klang
Conny Bauer - Live im Völkerschlachtdenkmal
Conny Bauer - Hummelsummen
Conny Bauer - Konrad Bauer Solo
Conny Bauer - Das flüchtige Glück
Conny Bauer - Toronto Töne
Ed Neumeister - One and Only
Nils Wogram - Bright Lights
Samuel Blaser - 18 Monologue Elastiques
Samuel Blaser - Solo Bone
Günter Christmann - Solo (Solomusiken für Posaune und Kontrabass)
Paul Rutherford - The Gentle Harm of the Bourgeoisie
Paul Rutherford - Solo in Berlin 1975

to be continued...

Are there solo recordings of Vinko Globokar? I know it's not improvised and more classical, but I would be interested in that as well. Thanks again!

[cmcslide]

I have a record called “Horns” by Gunter Christmann. Not just one soloist but five, I think, including Christmann and Mangelsdorff on trombones, Manfred Schoof and Kenny Wheeler on trumpets, and Paul Rutherford on euphonium. Starts and ends with collective improv, then each player plays a solo, a true solo like you are talking about. That’s the only example of something like that I can think of, except maybe for a solo cadenza by JJ. Now that I think of it, I heard JJ live in the late 80’s and he played “It’s Alright With Me” by himself and dedicated it to Kai Winding. Don’t know if he ever recorded that? It would be an interesting contrast to the other things that you mentioned!

[EriKon]

I have a record called “Horns” by Gunter Christmann. Not just one soloist but five, I think, including Christmann and Mangelsdorff on trombones, Manfred Schoof and Kenny Wheeler on trumpets, and Paul Rutherford on euphonium. Starts and ends with collective improv, then each player plays a solo, a true solo like you are talking about. That’s the only example of something like that I can think of, except maybe for a solo cadenza by JJ. Now that I think of it, I heard JJ live in the late 80’s and he played “It’s Alright With Me” by himself and dedicated it to Kai Winding. Don’t know if he ever recorded that? It would be an interesting contrast to the other things that you mentioned!

Oh wow! That sounds like a fun recording to check out, thank you!
Unfortunately nothing found on the JJ solo but sounds like a great memory! Thanks for your input!

[EriKon]

I've found a few solo tracks of Eje Thelin where he had some solo spots within his Eje Thelin Group and without rhythm section and everything, which are also fun to hear.

[Bleek]

Nils Landgren - Nature Boy

Sort of jazz/folk but very beautiful. All in a church.

[BrianJohnston]

Slide Hampton - Lament
Bill Pearce - You Needed Me

[EriKon]

Slide Hampton - Lament
Bill Pearce - You Needed Me

Those are all accompanied, right? At least I haven't found them as real solo trombone recordings.

[EriKon]

I've checked out "Horns" which was recommended above and which is a great recording!

There seem to be solo recordings of Günter Christmann, but they're unfortunately not available over here. I think it's called "Solomusiken für Posaune und Kontrabass".

Then I've made some research on Paul Rutherford and he has released several improvised solo recordings that I've just ordered two albums that I was able to get other here. Will add them to the list above. If anyone still knows something, please add it here also still interested in Vinko Globokar stuff if someone is into that and knows something.

[soseggnchips]

I don't think it's the recording cmcslide was referring to, but JJ plays a nice unaccompanied version of 'Beautiful Love' on Let's Hang Out, one of his later records from the early 90s.

Marshall Gilkes has a tune, 'Puddle Jumping' which features an extended solo cadenza. Not sure if it's available on an album, but there are several versions on YouTube.

I'm sure I've seem someone else doing lengthy unaccompanied improvisations, but I can't quite remember who right now... Ray Anderson maybe?

[mbarbier]

Then I've made some research on Paul Rutherford and he has released several improvised solo recordings that I've just ordered two albums that I was able to get other here. Will add them to the list above. If anyone still knows something, please add it here also still interested in Vinko Globokar stuff if someone is into that and knows something.

https://youtu.be/fXkvpkN_a4s this is a great four video set of Globokar doing a solo show. Must've been not long before his stroke. I love Paul Rutherford's stuff- he did some killer sets.

All the George Lewis Voyager stuff is really great too, though the solo trombone record is still my favorite. Here's a very recent version- it's cool how much it's developed! https://youtu.be/ncy4_FHX3Jc

I've got a portion of a class I teach that covers a lot of solo improvisors, though most aren't jazz. I'm away from my computer this week, but can parse through it for relevant links when I get back to LA.

[GGJazz]

Hi EriKon .

Here a J.J. Johnson solo cadenza , from the CD "The Brass Orchestra"



This is another J. J. solo performance ( as indicated above by Soseggnchips ) on Beautiful Love , from the CD "Let' s Hang Out"



This is a Phil Wilson solo performance , from the LP " That's All"



Regards to everyone
Giancarlo

[rickfaulknernyc]

Joe Fiedler has a solo album (The Howland Sessions) coming out later this year:

https://joefiedler.bandcamp.com

Almost qualifying is this J.J. Johnson/Joe Pass track (Pass doesn't play until more than halfway in):

[johntarr]

Bryan Hooten - Isolation

[iranzi]

Øyvind Brække - Aller Anfang ist schwer (2021)
Francesco Bucci - Zobibor (2023)
Paul Rutherford - Trombolenium: Solos 1986-1995
Sebi Tramontana - Unfolding To Be You (2022)
Walter Wierbos - Wierbos (1982)
Zekkereya El-magharbel - 8 Quranic maqamat organized by size (2023)
Zekkereya El-magharbel - 5 named scenes live from a parallel dimension in which Europe does not exist (2023)
Alan Tomlinson - Still Outside (1980)
Gerhard Gschlößl - Solo1 (2023)
Jacob Garchik - The Heavens: The Atheist Gospel Trombone Album (2012)
Miles Anderson - Garagemusik (1990) released on his website trom-bown.com
Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø - Solo (2011)
Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø - Solo Norwich (2023)
Matthias Müller - Solo Trombone (2016)
Matthias Müller - Acud/Bunker (2018/2016)

[iranzi]

Dave Nelson
’A Long Goodbye’ (2012) trombone via looper

[jacobgarchik]

Bruce Fowler - One Man One Bone from Ants Can Count
Ray Anderson - Marching On
Steve Swell – The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Improviser
Kalia Vandever - We Fell In Turn
Andy Clausen is doing one now I believe
Roswell Rudd – The Definitive Roswell Rudd

[jacobgarchik]

Stuart Dempster's solos like In The Great Abbey Of Clement VI sort of fall in the cracks between classical and experimental - not sure how much of those is improvised to be honest.

[jacobgarchik]

Daniel Ivan Bruno
https://www.danielivanbruno.com/alone/

Many many things by Ben Gerstein
http://bengerstein.com/alone.html

[iranzi]

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[halfabrown]

Does anyone know when the earliest solo Trombone record was released?

[BGuttman]

Does anyone know when the earliest solo Trombone record was released?

It was well before the era of Jazz. There are Arthur Pryor recordings from the early 1900s. Early jazz recordings can be found on www.redhotjazz.com. Look for recordings by Miff Mole and Jack Teagarden among others.

[SteveM]

Does anyone know when the earliest solo Trombone record was released?

It was well before the era of Jazz. There are Arthur Pryor recordings from the early 1900s. Early jazz recordings can be found on www.redhotjazz.com. Look for recordings by Miff Mole and Jack Teagarden among others.

The website www.redhotjazz.com apparently no longer exists. The is a website https://syncopatedtimes.com/red-hot-jazz-archive/ that has archived their material.

[tbdana]

[iranzi]

Giancarlo Schiaffini - Edula (1993/1988)
Giancarlo Schiaffini - L'anello mancante. The Missing Chainring (1997)
Paul Rutherford - Old Moers Almanac (1976)

[tbdana]

Bruce Fowler - One Man One Bone from Ants Can Count

Bruce was always a really interesting cat, but not always easy to play with. The thing I love about that cut is that he appears to circular breathe the whole darn thing. I think there's, like, two places in the tune where he stops to breathe. Wowza. A tremendous amount of effort to play all that especially while circular breathing. Don't think I'd classify it as jazz, though.

[iranzi]

Bryan Hooten - Isolation

Thank you johntarr, really enjoying this!
There's also earlier Bryan Hooten solo album called "Richmond Love Call" – also excellent (both on his bndcmp page)

[iranzi]

Eje Thelin:
’My Grain Attack’ (from Bits & Pieces)
’Duett 2’ (from Candles Of Vision) with occasional very quiet percussion
’track 6’ (from Night Music 1974)
’Solo V - Capricorn’ (from Eje Thelin Group)
’Solo VI’ (from Eje Thelin Group Live '76)
’Solo VIII’ (from Hypothesis)

Gueorgui Kornazov, couple of solo intros:
’Strast’ (from Suznanie) - first 3 minutes
’Around Sofia’ (from Staro Vreme) - first 2 minutes

Craig Harris:
’Blues Dues’ (from Blackout In …)
’TestiMoan Tro 1’ (from Souls Within The Veil)

Hannes Bauer - Summer Music 1995

[iranzi]

Are there solo recordings of Vinko Globokar?

There's an album called Globokar By Globokar on Harmonia Mundi label — there are several solo trombone pieces. Other pieces include solo alphorn and small ensemble or overdubs (can't tell)

As for Günter Christmann, there is a Christman-Schönenberg duo album called Remarks which has several trombone solo bits. But even when percussion comes in, it's so sparse that the two instruments don't get tangled, like sympathetic solos a lot of the time (my favourite recording of Christman's).

Also not pure solo, George Lewis & Bertram Turetzky track 'Blues For Lester B,' from Conversations album — in the first half has only sparse quiet arco bass behind the trombone, less sparse/quiet in 2d half.

Can also look on Inconstant Sol blog, maybe there's more among the live recordings (and I'm sure there's some Globokar there too, possibly early Radu Malfatti solos too – from the time you could actually still hear him ).
There's one there called Trombone Workshop Live in Moers '77 — a group consisting of Günter Christmann, Albert Mangelsdorff, George Lewis and Paul Rutherford !!!

[iranzi]

9 solo trombones in chronolgcl ordr
all mentioned above in this thread

Alan Tomlinson 'Still Outside' (1980)


Wolter Wierbos 'Schipbeek' (1982)


Giancarlo Schiaffini 'Disdegno' (1993)


Samuel Blaser ’Solitude’ (2009)


Samuel Blaser ’Grand 8’ (2013)


Øyvind Brække ’Overlys’ (2021)


Sebi Tramontana 'Prologue' (2022)


Gerhard Gschlößl ’Spring’ (2023)


Francesco Bucci ’Jökull-stormur’ (2023)

[iranzi]

Compilation of recent avant-garde/experimental solo trombone from 2018, Trombilation, on Faux Amis label (1st thing i'll buy after getting paid tomorrow )

[mbarbier]

Zekkereya El-magharbel - 8 Quranic maqamat organized by size (2023)
Zekkereya El-magharbel - 5 named scenes live from a parallel dimension in which Europe does not exist (2023)
Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø - Solo (2011)
Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø - Solo Norwich (2023)
Matthias Müller - Solo Trombone (2016)
Matthias Müller - Acud/Bunker (2018/2016)

Awesome to see one of my students pop up on here- Zekkereya is a really special musician! They're fantastic!

Henrik and Matthias are amazing. Matthias has a great trip with Jeb Bishop and Matthias Muche (who also has an amazing ten trombone and snare drum group called Bone Crusher ).

Compilation of recent avant-garde/experimental solo trombone from 2018, Trombilation, on Faux Amis label (1st thing i'll buy after getting paid tomorrow )

That's a great one- glad it hasn't fully disappeared into the ether- it was a really cool project with an awesome mix of folks. Henrik's track on it is great!

[iranzi]

How could i forget
Mattie Barbier - threads (2020)

[mbarbier]

How could i forget
Mattie Barbier - threads (2020)

Oh! Thank you so much- that's very kind of you! Incredible space to get to play/record.

[iranzi]

Finally, more or less complete list of Roswell Rudd solo trombone tracks
(nine so far, mostly live performances)

'Third House' from Marcello Melis «The New Village On The Left...», 1976 (with some vocal quartet incursions)
'Four Lessons From The Third World' from Roswell Rudd & Giorgio Gaslini «Sharing», 1978
'Darn It! Reprise (Down In Back!)' + 'C'etait Dans La Nuit' from Paul Haines «Darn It!», 1993 or earler
'One Twilight' + 'Passing Thoughts' from Roswell Rudd Trio «Unheard Herbie Nichols, Vol.1», 1996
'A Bouquet For JJ' from Roswell Rudd & Duck Baker «Live», 2002
'Ulirenge' from Roswell Rudd & The Mongolian Buryat Band «Blue Mongol», 2005 (trombone alternating with singer)
'Lady Sings The Blues' from The Second Approach Trio with Roswell Rudd «The Light», 2008

[iranzi]

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing
Daniel Iván Bruno made my day!

Daniel Bruno.jpg

[iranzi]

Andy Clausen - Few Ill Words (2023) - trombone inside old railway water silo



(thank you Jacob Garchik for mentioning some great younger players!)

[mbarbier]

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
Daniel Iván Bruno made my day

Dani is an incredible musician! Really wonderful!

[Posaunus]

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
Daniel Iván Bruno made my day

Well .. I often like contemporary music - but I'm not quite sure what to do with this!

[iranzi]

The inimitable Ben Gerstein:
watch this in full screen (preferably with subdued lights)

[jacobgarchik]

Here's one from Tim Albright. I've known Tim since high school. He's certainly one of the world's finest trombone players, with a career in both jazz and classical music and a teaching position at a major university. If my search is correct, he has never once been mentioned on this forum. We are fed a certain diet of prominent players...it doesn't always reflect reality.

[iranzi]

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[iranzi]

Alex Paxton


Matthias Muche

Matthias Muche.jpg

[Posaunus]

Alex Paxton

Is this what art has come to in the U.K.?

I see a trombone, but I don't hear music.

Does the emperor have clothes?

Rooftop looks like it's in a semi-industrial area of London. So perhaps not too many local residents were bothered during the recording?

I guess I'm too old-fashioned - I prefer to listen to artists like Tiffany Johns and Dana Douglas.

[iranzi]

post deleted

[iranzi]

post deleted

[Posaunus]

And regarding “abstractions” mentioned here and there — these western inventions passed from generation to generation, used as laws set in stone for defining the limits of what’s been called music.T
...
Today a lot of these western bastions of music appear to me as a marasmatic swamp, enclosed by a bunch of such abstractions and maintained through discipline and obedience.

I am a big fan of Western African music and dance (particularly from Mali). There are certainly traditions, passed on for many generations. But I don't think they are "set in stone" or are in any way a "marasmatic swamp!" This can be wonderful, musical sounds, and a joy to observe and listen.

Open your horizons, man!

[iranzi]

(deleted)

[EriKon]

Alex Paxton

Is this what art has come to in the U.K.?

I see a trombone, but I don't hear music.

Does the emperor have clothes?

Rooftop looks like it's in a semi-industrial area of London. So perhaps not too many local residents were bothered during the recording?

I guess I'm too old-fashioned - I prefer to listen to artists like Tiffany Johns and Dana Douglas.

It's just a different approach and apparently nothing that you like to hear. Others have opposite opinions. E.g. I most often don't enjoy solo recordings where there is just a melody played in a hall like acoustic setting. And in general solo trombone is a thing that most likely not everyone will enjoy, so is free improvisation which seems to be the case with this piece of music. Tastes differ from person to person

[Posaunus]

Is this what art has come to in the U.K.?

I see a trombone, but I don't hear music.

Does the emperor have clothes?

Rooftop looks like it's in a semi-industrial area of London. So perhaps not too many local residents were bothered during the recording?

I guess I'm too old-fashioned - I prefer to listen to artists like Tiffany Johns and Dana Douglas.

It's just a different approach and apparently nothing that you like to hear. Others have opposite opinions. E.g. I most often don't enjoy solo recordings where there is just a melody played in a hall like acoustic setting. And in general solo trombone is a thing that most likely not everyone will enjoy, so is free improvisation which seems to be the case with this piece of music. Tastes differ from person to person

I apologize for my curmudgeonness. I must be getting too old. I once extensively explored (and often liked) avant-garde music. [I even hosted a radio show featuring contemporary music, back in the day.] But for me to enjoy music, I like to encounter some sort of melodic line and/or catchy rhythm, and to hear something that attracts me intellectually or emotionally. I’m also a fan of attractive sound, rather than raucous noise.

For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed recordings of (and in-person listening to) Stuart Dempster, Phil Wilson, William Lang, Mattie Barbier, etc.), as well as more main-stream trombonists like Doug Elliott, Andy Martin, Alex Iles, Jiggs Whigham, … , and of course many of the greats of yesteryear (Urbie, JJ, Kai, Tommy D, Bill W, Frank R, Carl F, Jack Teagarden, …).

So many good trombonists to enjoy listening to! Tastes do indeed differ.

[iranzi]

It's just a different approach and apparently nothing that you like to hear. Others have opposite opinions. E.g. I most often don't enjoy solo recordings where there is just a melody played in a hall like acoustic setting. And in general solo trombone is a thing that most likely not everyone will enjoy, so is free improvisation which seems to be the case with this piece of music. Tastes differ from person to person

I apologize for my curmudgeonness. I must be getting too old. I once extensively explored (and often liked) avant-garde music. [I even hosted a radio show featuring contemporary music, back in the day.] But for me to enjoy music, I like to encounter some sort of melodic line and/or catchy rhythm, and to hear something that attracts me intellectually or emotionally. I’m also a fan of attractive sound, rather than raucous noise.

For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed recordings of (and in-person listening to) Stuart Dempster, Phil Wilson, William Lang, Mattie Barbier, etc.), as well as more main-stream trombonists like Doug Elliott, Andy Martin, Alex Iles, Jiggs Whigham, … , and of course many of the greats of yesteryear (Urbie, JJ, Kai, Tommy D, Bill W, Frank R, Carl F, Jack Teagarden, …).

So many good trombonists to enjoy listening to! Tastes do indeed differ.

nobody is too old, i can't even imagine that (i myself find not being young anymore a blessing. old people are the best! and teenagers also — my good friend made me see that)
It could be said that this is part of what music (or noise masquarading as music, or beauty in general) always does as a social thing: it attracts some people and repels others. Like anything that's social. It can't be universal — it discriminates. and that's a good thing, nothing wrong with that.
Knowing what you like or don't like comes from experience. Taste is not something frivolous, you put in your time and work to get it. It's hard-earned, often. And you cherish what you earn.
(just some barely-awake thoughts. Can't tell if it sounds patronising — wasn't my intention)

p.s. and thank you for the list of your favourites: some of these are new to me!