ITF 2019

[afugate]

Anyone else going to ITF this year? I'm a first-time attendee and excited about seeing/hearing everything. And, as with everything else I do trombone-related, advice is definitely appreciated!

--Andy in OKC

[Mikebmiller]

I keep telling my self I am going, but haven't actually signed up yet. It's probably about as close to home as it will be for a while for me - about an 8 hour drive. And there is some good mountain biking on the way. I think the Saturday night Star Wars concert with Jim Nova and that all-star choir he has put together is going to be amazing.

[Trav1s]

I want to go...

[Burgerbob]

Might be going. Definitely going to Osaka 2020.

[harrisonreed]

I will be at the one in Japan, in 2020 as well

[Doug Elliott]

I'll be there, as always.

[Mikebmiller]

Hey Doug - any truth to the story that they spouted on the Brass Junkies last week about you?

Lance said you managed to get out of playing ceremonies with the Air Force band by not ironing your uniform. Sounds like a good trick.

[Doug Elliott]

What's Brass Junkies?

I'm not aware that I "got out of playing ceremonies"

[sungfw]

What's Brass Junkies?

It's a podcast by Lance LaDuke and Andrew Hitz.

[Mikebmiller]

http://www.pedalnotemedia.com/the-brass ... matt-niess

Your name comes up a few times. They are probably just messing with you. Some pretty funny stories from Matt Niess in that show.

[Schlitz]

.

[salsabone]

I have just been cleared from my job at the DE DMV tog go!! I will be driving from DE by myself. Is there anyone interested on joining me, splitting driving and room costs??
Travis, I have a few vintage Conns you may be interested, all vintage. The entire Constellation package...28H, 38H. and 48H(and a decent 8H!). I get collecting all of the models by number!!
Kevin

[Mikebmiller]

Well I finally signed up for this thing. I will be there Thurs- Sat. If you see a short somewhat stocky guy looking lonely, be sure to say hello. I only know 2 other guys that are going. For some reason, my wife didn't want to come along.

[JLivi]

I don't know if anyone else is thinking about this, but why the hell is ITF in Muncie, IN and ITG is in Miami, FL. One of these is not like the other!

[Schlitz]

.

[bbalika]

Does anyone want to offer their reviews of the festival? Any great performances, favorite horns or new toys you went home with?

Large Bore:
Courtois - Yellow Brass New Yorker was one of my favorite horns there.
Shires - Colin Williams and the New York model
Greenhoe - I’m glad that Schilke is offering these valves again
M and W - Yellow and Gold Brass both felt great!

Small Bore:
Rath - I played 1 R10 that blew every other horn out of the water. Super clean and clear sound.
Lawler - it took me awhile, but I found a great setup. It was an interesting process, and Keith was very helpful in suggesting which components to try to get my desired sound.
BAC - they have been hit or miss for me in the past, but their new voyager model played great!
Butler - not my favorite, but I was impressed by how well an all carbon fiber horn sounded. The carbon fiber slide on a brass bell though...definitely something to think about if you like lightweight slides.
Herb Bruce - very similar to Lawler and BAC horns. He had some interesting options, and the horns felt very consistent.

[ArbanRubank]

This! But you'll probably need a FB account to watch Jim Nova's "From Light To Dark", featuring the ITF All-Stars.

[Bassbonechandler]

I really enjoyed ITF. It was my first time going so I thought it was great. Nathan Zgonc, George Curran and David Rejano had great performances. Tomer Maschkowski had a choir made up of his students that was incredible. The Jim Nova star wars suite was awesome!

I tried a lot of horns but my favorites were:
Thein Universal with hagmanns
M&W tis conn style and bach style
Butler C12
Edwards Oft

Oddly enough I didn't like thayer valves on basses but I liked them on tenor. I also didn't like the raths a whole lot. I tried the griego Alessi mouthpieces and Greg black NY and didn't like the Greg black very much. The griegos are just so expensive.

[Mikebmiller]

I had a blast. I got there Thursday afternoon and caught the last half of Nate Zgonc's recital. He played a duet with Jim Nova that was phenomenal. John Romero's recital was probably the best solo trombone performance I have ever heard. He played an hour from memory and did the program from the Tchaikovsky competition a couple of weeks ago. Jazz night was great with Bonegasm, the MSU jazz bones and the ITF jazz stars - too many to name, but one solo by Tony Baker just blew me away. The Saturday concert with Brett Baker and the Central Ohio Brass Band was superb. I was not familiar with Brett prior to this. He played 5 or 6 solos back to back and just killed every one of them.

Of course, the highlight of the week was the Jim Nova Star Wars concert on Saturday. That was probably the best trombone choir concert ever played. The room was SRO and the crowd just went nuts - 3 curtain calls. Bravo to Jim for all his work on this.

I played a bunch of horns, but since I was not looking for a new one, I didn't really give them a hard workout. My overall impression is that some of the horns in the $2-3K range sounded just as good as the custom models. Even the Chinese Sierman horns sounded pretty good. The Willson trombones were very nice and seemed to be a bit lighter than most.

[Mikebmiller]

I heard rumors that ITF 2021 would be in Nashville. Does anyone know if that is correct? I would love to go again, but Japan is a bit of a hike.

[hwlentz]

I’m reliably informed that 2021 is in Nashville, exact dates not set yet. 50th anniversary, returning to the first site!

[SirJohn]

My son and I made a quick trip up on Saturday afternoon (he was at a camp through Friday night) and he had a great time trying out a bunch of horns. Loved the Shires Q's out of all the basses he tried, particularly the new thayer version. He was not impressed with any of the large bore tenors. He liked the Bach 42's the best. Still likes the tone of his corp 42b the best. None of the horns there had the same resonance. There were a few small bore BACs he liked, didn't catch the models but they were ones without the gaudy counterweight, brackets etc. I think the rep said they were .508 bore. Liked the King 2B SS at the Conn-Selmer booth as well.

Caught the Brett Baker concert and he did really kill it. Very impressive.

[afugate]

My daughter and I had a fabulous time. Quite the "mountain top" experience (for us both) to be around such great players.

There were so many great performances. But as mentioned by others, Jim Nova's Star Wars concert was jaw-dropping. Start with great music as the foundation. Add terrific arranging and stellar performers and it all adds up to something truly remarkable.

No trombone reports - my wife will kill me if I brought home another horn! lol
But I did get to see several people from both TromboneChat and the old Trombone Forums.

--Andy in OKC