From Mendez to Maynard
There are two sections to this page. First is the photo gallery starting from as far back as Drozdoff’s road experiences on Maynard Ferguson’s band to recent clinics and concerts. Just follow the link below!
Online Recital – From Mendez to Maynard
This next segment is essentially a series of clips that could constitute a free recital offered to the world. I want to share music with folks who would listen. The folks who watch my video clips or listen to my tracks CHOSE to come here and do so. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. I can only hope that I have lifted your spirits in some way and brought some “aural healing” into you life, even if only for a few moments!
Enjoy!
Broadway Demo #3 – Strictly Mellow
This is my third clip demonstrating the gorgeous sound one can get from a NYTC Broadway model Bb trumpet. There are no high notes here. Just a mellow treatment of the the old standard, “How High The Moon.”
Summertime – High and Low – NYTC Broadway Demo #2
This is the old standard, “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. I did this ala the Maynard Version as he did it on the recording with Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Max Roach and Dinah Washington. This is the second demonstration of the versatility of this instrument.
Amazing Grace – solo – NYTC Broadway Bb Trumpet Demo #1
This is my first clip featuring my Broadway model Bb trumpet offered by Felix Vayser and the New York Trumpet Company. This is a rubato/improvised interpretation of Amazing Grace. Peace.
At The River
This is a collection of images and video clips set to music – the old American hymn-song, “At The River.” I play my NYTC Broadway model Bb with a Wedge 3CC mouthpiece on the melody, a Shilke P54A piccolo with a cup mute for the intro and closing tones and a Getzen bass trumpet for the second part on the second verse.
Mendez Version of La Virgen de la MacArena – acapella
Mendez was one of my heroes. This is the first piece of his I ever learned. I just threw this on a video clip after a practice session. This features a Harrison Wedge model 3CC-St 25 mouthpiece with a W25L heavy BB. The trumpet is a New York Trumpet Company Stage 1 California Light Bb.
Hungarian Dance #5 – Mendez Arrangement
This is just a read through one Friday afternoon just before I had to get ready to go to work.
Farewell My Granada – Mendez Arrangement
This is one of the most deceptively challenging pieces Mendez ever did (IMHO). I still have a lot of work to do on the dynamics and breath control, but I still love RM’s rendition on the Trumpet Magic Decca album and hold it as one of my goals in life – to be able to approach playing at that level.
Here is my practice session on it. I hope some folks can enjoy my take on it.
Bye Bye Blackbird – Big Band Trumpet Solo
This is Dr. Mike Stewart’s arrangement for me of this tune. I play all the brass parts. Steve Eisen plays the bass parts. Bob Becker played guitar and bass and Bill Byan played drums. There is a lot of overdubbing here. The video is of my laying down the final solo track. This will be released on a CD. I use both a Wedge 7FC on a Warburton 10* mouthpiece and an Asymmetric lead model 342 M mouthpiece. The trumpet is a New York Trumpet Company California Light model Bb.
Some Egregious High Notes in Frame For The Blues and Shake Your Bones Followed the Presser Suite Mvmt. 1
This is the original Frame for the Blues, Maynard’s part, in Bb. Then I read through the lead trumpet part on Gordon Goodwin’s Shake Your Bones. After that, for balance, I play the first movement of the William Presser Suite for unaccompanied trumpet.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
This starts off mellow and then devolves into some more egregious high notes, just for fun! My dog wanders into the picture at the end!
Funky One
This is a one minute long improvised piece. On this, rhythm tracks were assembled from the royalty free tracks available through Sony/Sonic Foundry – ACID software. You can see the CakeWalk window on the PC. Also the room audio was faded out and then back in.
Puzzlement
This is a very mellow piece for Felix Vayser’s cornet. I played absolutely no hight notes on this. I’ve got plenty of clips with egregious high notes (Sining Exercises up to F over DHC, Funky One, Basement Blowage, Hi Gear Low Gear 1 & 2, to name a few). I was in the mood for a completely peaceful and pensive piece for tonights sharing. I do hope you enjoy this bit of contrast for me. –>>Peace!
Door County Meditation
This is another short jazz/fusion piece. I created the synth/loop quasi ambient background track late last summer after coming back from Door County. I didn’t get around to improvising the cornet part till Dec. 28, 2007. I used Felix Vayser’s new Stage 1 GS Cornet with a Lead mouthpiece in it, striving for a ore Nat Adderly sort of sound (as opposed to a brass band sound). This a kind of peaceful tune with a bit of a burn going on in the middle. I was going for a semi-free-jazz feel on it.
Basement Blowage
This gives a brief demonstration of the overdub process. First, rhythm tracks were assembled from the royalty free tracks available through Sony/Sonic Foundry – ACID software. Then horn parts were improvised together as background and solos. Shown in the video are the solo overdubs.
Bathroom Gig!
This was a gag video to try to get on the Ellen Degeneres show. I submitted it twice, to no avail. I did NOT clean the audio up on this one. I didn’t have the wherewithal to bring remote recording gear upstairs to our master bath, to you can clearly hear all of the camera audio distortion. I just wanted to keep sharing, even the dumbest tuff I’ve done! 
The tune is Beginning To See The Light – an old Ellington tune. Enjoy! Oh, the plunger was actually clean, in case you were wondering!
HORN DEMOS/AUDITIONS
What follows are a series of short demos demonstrating what I play on each horn. In addition to having them here on my media page, these are sent out to folks who don’t know me as an audition or, in some cases, a pre-audition.
Cadenza from the Fisher Tull Trumpet Concerto – Mvmt. 1
This is the cadenza from the first movement from this concerto written by Tull for Doc Severinsen. I am using a Wedge 7FC-St 25 with a Warburton 10* BB. The trumpet is my trusty NYTC California Light model Bb.
Wedge Multi-Horn Demo
This is a promotional demo for Harrison Wedge trumpet mouthpieces on various trumpets. I hope this serves as an an example of my crossover work from jazz to classical.
Bass Trumpet Demo
This is a short etude by Phil Snedcor played on my Getzen bass trumpet with a Yamaha 42B trombone mouthpiece.
Bass Trumpet Demo 2 – A Little Bit Funky
First I made some drum samples to create a funky groove to blow over. Then I just improvised a bunch of ideas that popped into my head. I ran it a few times and then did a couple of takes. This is the second one. I wanted to show the bass trumpet in a slightly different light. Again this is played on my Getzen bass trumpet with a Yamaha 42B trombone mouthpiece.
Cornet Demo – Legit and Jazz
After much experimentation I found that the sound I get on my Arban Courtois model cornet and my New York Trumpet Company Stage 1 Model GS cornet is virtually identical on both. I just find the GS more fun to play and easier to blow.
Flugel Horn Demo – Legit and Jazz
I did this as a pre-audition project for something I was looking into. There are six segments. The first four are excerpts from brass band literature. I’m not sure what instrument they are written for (cornet, euphonium in treble clef or flugel horn) but they were on a list. The instructions said to play the instrument of your choice, so I chose flugel as a challenge. After those four I did the first entrance of the post horn solo from Mahler’s 3rd. Phil Smith recommends a C cornet as the most agreeable and playable instrument for this. He specifically cites flugel as NOT being a good choice even though the part calls for flugel in Bb. It is a tough horn to do this on, but, again, I liked the challenge. Finally I blew two choruses of Hello Young Lovers. On the second chorus, I add some blowage for the AB parts and then come back with the melody and an improvised tag. The details are in the text displayed in the video.
