Mr. Tuba

8. A New York Professional

134 After my discharge from the Army, Carol and I took an apartment at 42-25 80th Street in Elmhurst, Long Island, one block away from Elmhurst Hospital. A lot of musicians had apartments in that big building. The owner and manager of the building was very musicianfriendly . If someone came to complain about musicians practicing at all hours of the night, he’d tell them to move. He said, “I’ve never been stiffed by a musician.” New York musicians often said, “If you want to learn the art of music, go to Juilliard. If you want to learn the profession and business of music, go to the Manhattan School of Music.” I had the good fortune to attend both schools,butmymotivationforenrollingintheManhattanSchoolofMusic was so I could leave the Army in time for the start of the 1956–1957 concert season, which began in mid-September. After completing four years of music studies at Juilliard, I didn’t feel like I was in dire need of academia. By the time I returned to New York, I had more than twenty gigs booked already, including the rodeo, ice show, the New York City Ballet, and the New York Brass Quintet. Britishpianist-composer-comedianDonaldSwann, together with MichaelFlanders ,hadasuccessfulshow,AttheDropofaHat,onBroadwayfor A New York Professional CHAPTER EIGHT 135 A New York Professional two years. Swann also was the primary arranger for the Hoffnung Festival in England in 1955. Swann had sublet a garden apartment convenient to the theater. Arnold Black, violinist and theater contractor, called and told me Donald Swann had inquired about my availability, so he could hear a work performed that he was writing, Two Moods for Tuba and Piano, which had been requested by famous cartoonist and British tuba player Gerard Hoffnung. While we were rehearsing and trying things out in his apartment , he finished the composition. A week or so later I made a second visit to Donald’s apartment. He sadly informed me Hoffnung had passed away. Donald and I played the piece several times and I suggested that the Chamber Music Library publish it. The first movement was meant to be humorous,butIsuggestedthatoutofrespectforGerardHoffnungweslow the tempo and make it into an elegy. The mute, which Hoffnung called “a whoppingbigcork,”wasusedthroughouttheelegy.Thesecondmovement was a scherzo that changed keys every few measures. On my first solo recital LP, I included Two Moods for Tuba and Piano. It’s still fun to play. Hoffnung’s widow sent me a box of his cartoons featuring the tuba. Clark Galehouse—Golden Crest Records I first met Clark Galehouse, founder and president of Golden Crest Records, through John Barrows. John had recorded a solo LP and another with the New York Woodwind Quintet, all music by Alec Wilder, forGoldenCrest.Atthetime,ClarkGalehousehadacompanythatpressed records for all the major labels. First and foremost, Clark Galehouse was a musicianwho,inadditiontoperformingasasaxophonist,alsodidarrangements , most notably for jazz violinist Joe Venuti. His other major activity was recording performing ensembles at music conferences, opening up a potential for major music educators and their ensembles. He established a new market for soloists and chamber ensembles, which could not exist before the advent of 331/3 LP recordings. In1957theNewYorkBrassQuintetproduceditsownLP titledTheNew York Brass Quintet in Concert. Our intention was to market this recording as a demonstration for concert bookers to understand the variations of programs. Before we could market it, opportunity came to record Two Contemporary Composers (Alec Wilder and Don Hammond). As things 136 Mr. Tuba workedout,innegotiatingTwoContemporaryComposers,Clarkalsoagreed that Golden Crest Records would release The NYBQ In Concert, as well as a solo recital album by each member of the New York Brass Quintet. Alec Wilder and I had becomegood friends bythistime and arrangements were madetorecordhis Sonata No.1forSolo Tuba andPiano,resultinginmyfirst HarveyPhillipsinRecital LP.ThisrecordingwasverypopularwiththeJapaneseandScandinaviantubists .KeithBrownfollowedwithasoloalbumfor trombone, John Glasel did a jazz album with his Brasstet, and John Swallowdidasolorecitalrecording .OnceIstarteddoingrecordingswithClark Galehouse,wedevelopedaclosefriendship,resultinginseveralrecordings ofsolotuba.ThatsimplycouldnothavehappenedwithoutClark’ssupport. Clark also made possible The Burke-Phillips All-Star Concert Band, Volumes 1 and 2, two of the finest band recordings ever made. Managing a Freelance Career Don Butterfield and I were by far the busiest freelance tuba players in New York and subbed for each other many times. Philip Cadway (an ABC staff musician), Bill Barber, and I also passed jobs back and forth, but weneverhadtheopportunitytoplaytogether.Wewereallversatileplayers, comfortable in the various styles of music, including classical and jazz. In the freelance world, an instrument like the tuba is severely handicapped and penalized if the...