Ageing trombonists and other brass players?

[BGuttman]

Dementia can be a big factor in when to hang up the horn. We had a player in one band I didn't deserve to share a stage with. He was a former Principal Horn of the Dallas Symphony. He retired to New Hampshire with his wife (a DSO string player). His wife sat next to him and handled setting up his music stand and music, and for a few years he produced some glorious sound from the Horn section. Unfortunately, dementia being what it is, he eventually couldn't even play. He passed away soon after he left the band. Still, I think his time with the band extended his life. I'm sure it made it more enjoyable.

[DougHulme]

Bruce - an exceedingly good point and a situation I have seen before and no doubt replacated around the trombone world frequently. Music is a great asset to ones health. Dementia worries me as I lost my mother to it so there may be an hereditary angle to worry about... time will tell I suppose. Thats a touching story though about your man from The Dallas Symphony... Doug

[Trombo]

Many factors are important for longevity, but the most important is good physical shape. Therefore, exercise is essential. There was such a Soviet cartoonist Boris Yefimov. He lived 107 years. The secret to his longevity was simple - he squatted 400 times every day. He didn't get sick. True, when he added 50 times and began to squat 450 times a day, he died. Therefore, everything is good in moderation.

[timothy42b]

My mother died of COPD but survived much longer than anyone predicted. We all thought her horn playing may have had something to do with that. (the survival, not the COPD. That came from a lifetime of heavy smoking.)

[tbdana]

Not in their 80s or 90s, but a lot of guys I played with when young are still working and are phenomenal players. Guys like Alex Iles, Alan Kaplan, Bob McChesney, Andy Martin, Bill Reichenbach, Bob Sanders, and the rest of that L.A. crowd are all still working and still at the top of the biz.

Every couple of weeks I play with Jeff Reynolds (bass trombone for the L.A. Phil for almost 40 years). He's around 80 years old, and still plays a mean bass and contra-bass trombone. In fact, there's a trombone choir called PaleoBones full of almost all guys in their 70s and 80s (with a few "youngsters" in their 60s), and they still sound fantastic. Still great players. Maybe not doing all the big work anymore, but still better than most.

I think times are changing, and trombone players are playing very well into very old age, and I don't think that's going to change. The main problem will be that composers, contractors, and others who do the hiring are getting younger, and are looking at new blood in their own age groups, and older players who still play amazingly are simply forced out.

[LetItSlide]

I’m 65 and feeling great and can still do a lot of things. I credit trombone playing partially, along with 5 years in the Army, being a competition action handgun shooter, and working out pretty steadily over a period of almost 50 years. I can still do all the physical things on the trombone that I ever could, though my overall skill is not even half of what it once was due to my playing only consisting of occasional playing at home.

[CalgaryTbone]

I played and/or studied with at least four trombone players who died between 40 and 50.
Jay Jay, Rosolino and Ake Person committed suicide.
Okay, all of them played Jazz, maybe this has something to do with it.
But: the job with the highest potential for desease is the job of a musician.

JJ Johnson did commit suicide, but he had inoperable terminal cancer - not depression, etc., but pain and suffering in his life, and I assume, for his family and friends.

On a more upbeat note, we have a local jazz trumpet player who is just a joy to listen to in his late 80's. He was encouraged to record his first solo recording in his late 70's and has done a couple more since then - winning some Canadian Jazz Recording awards for all of them. He doesn't work as much as he used to, but still plays some dates in town, and the recordings have opened up invitations to jazz festivals across the country. Continuing to play has kept him young (at heart).

Jim Scott

[ghmerrill]

But: the job with the highest potential for desease is the job of a musician.

I do not see that any available data suggests anything of the sort.

[tim]

I sit next , in our local big band , to a gentleman well into his 80s, retired airline pilot and can play the spots off the charts. I'm 72 and holding my own, training director for a ski school, assistant band director at a local high school and a fairly decent bass trombonist. Age does matter is you don't take care of yourself