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Last Thursday I played three movements of Bolling’s Toot Suite with the new Dean of our music school at the University of Miami, Shelly Berg. Shelly is an incredible pianist who is truly at home in both classical and jazz. This concert featured him along with select members of the faculty in a kind of welcome celebration/concert extravaganza. It was a great event and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it. Given a first half of Schumann, Poulenc, and Piazzola, and a second half of Bolling and some stellar small group jazz (every bit of it featuring our new Dean at the piano), it is an understatement to say that the range of Shelly Berg’s music making ability is truly extraordinary.
To get to the point, though, there were at least two reviewers from local newspapers at the concert. When I started reading the reviews I was bracing myself for the inevitable gaffe that was sure to appear beside my name (see Murphy’s Law of Journalism). When I read the review by Lawrence Budmen in the Sun-Sentinel, I thought I had found it:
Morris’ impeccable control and huge sound compass riveted attention.
When I read that, I thought, “What the hell is a sound compass?” I imagined myself on stage with some enormous sound navigating device. When that image faded, I just imagined a writer looking for something creative to say and that the best word that came to his mind was “compass”. So, to prove my point, I tore into the dictionary (not a real dictionary of course, but the handy one that is found on the “Dashboard” of a Mac) to look up “compass”. I was laughingly reading through all of the non-relevant uses of the word, when suddenly there it was, under the third definition:
The range of notes that can be produced by a voice or musical instrument.
Time for me to eat a healthy piece of humble pie. As my wife said, “Maybe that’s why you play trumpet and he writes for a newspaper.” Zing! Yes, I suppose that is true. The good news, though, is that there is a reviewer who is as meticulous about his writing as most musicians are about their music. Having seen so many examples of the opposite, it is nice to stumble upon a thoughtfully written review.
Hi Craig!
The reviewer’s use of the word “compass” is still quite inventive. It seems to me that he’’s not actually referring to “the range of notes that can be produced” by you & your trumpet. Instead, he marveled at your “sound compass,” which to me suggests the variety of tone colors you produce. This is high praise indeed! Wish I could have heard the performance!
I have known Shelly for many years all the way back to when he was a community college instructor at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas (suburb of Houston) I have continued to hear his performance through out the years and yes I would say that the University of Miami is fortunate to have secured a person of Shelly’’s talent as a dean. Best of luck to Shelly and the School of Music. I am sure that Bolling music would have made Claude proud and I am sure your trumpet playing would have made Maurice have a smile on his face.
Musically, Sparky