More blog comin' at ya

Hi Folks,
Well, it has been a crazy couple of weeks. Lot's of stuff going on in the world of Worl. Played a few gigs, taught a few lessons and did a T-Mobile commercial yesterday at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Great musicians on the date including Mary Fettig, Dave Peterson, Steve Campos, Marty Wehner and others. Nice to do a union gig 'cause of it contributing to my pension.
I'm really looking forward to November. Lot's of fun stuff going on including my 50th birthday/40 years of trumpet playing anniversary gig at BoAs with WorlView on November 5th. More on that soon but for now, a little trip down memory lane......
Where has the time gone? I remember getting my first trumpet on October 2nd, 1965. It was a Holton Collegiate and my first teacher was Richard Snyder who by the way is still playing gigs on saxophone to this day. I put the mouthpiece into the leadpipe and blew into it. Nothing but air came out and man, was I bummed!!!! I told my mom, Hana that there was something wrong with the horn but she told to play it some more and that I'll get it eventually.
Funny thing, I was pretty terrible for so many years! In fact, the 7th grade band director Mrs Heinzen put me on baritone for the whole year. I carried that piece of crap home at least three days a week. That thing was bigger than me and smelled like garbage can! I remember telling Mrs. Heinzen at the beginning of 8th grade that if I didn't get to play trumpet I would quit. She told me I better practice and did I practice? Of course. Who wants to spend the rest of their playing career playing on a garbage can with valves?
By the time I got to high school, my reading skills were pretty good and I played well when our band director Dick Larsen had us play our passages, one at a time in front of the whole band class. Dick by the way was a trumpet player and passed away this year. Thru Johnny Serrano, I inherited Dicks old Conn trumpet and have it sitting on my trumpet shrine along with my Chet Baker, Miles Davis books and of course, the book that got me thinking about the trumpet, The Reader's Digest Treasury of Short Stories with an article about Louis Armstrong.
I auditioned for the San Francisco Fireman's Honor Band that year and made 1st chair 2nd trumpet and got free lessons at the Burlingame Conservatory of Music. I used to take the bus down there from Daly City to study with a cat named Owen Bruce. He's the one who turned me on to the Arban's Conservatory method and Bach 7C mpcs.
It wasn't till I hooked up with the godfather of all of the San Francisco trumpeters, Johnny Coppola that stuff started to happen for me. I remember sitting in his living room, shaking and barely being able to play. He asked if I was nervous...ha! Boy was I. He asked me why and I told him, "You're the great Johnny Coppola and that's why". He just laughed, sipped his vino and we went on from there. He was a great influence not only with my playing and being a good human being but with my teaching too. He told me that if I did everything he told me to do, I would be a pro by the time I was sixteen. Sounds like a line to get a young punk like me to practice but man, I bit and bit hard.
I played my first gig at 15 years young with an asian rock cover band called "Far East Coalition" and we played at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco on July 1st, 1971. Three trumpet playing friends of mine were at that gig playing with me and in the other bands, "Sand" and "The Intrigues". Johnny Serrano, Jerry Lum and Gary Wood. I'm happy to say that they are still around and it's very cool to see them from time to time. My first solo was "You're Still A Young Man" by Tower Of Power". Damn if I didn't crack the first note but got thru the rest ok. I remember looking out into the audience and seeing more beautiful asian girls than I ever saw before. We played "Valdez In The Country", "Sparkling In The Sand" and a whole lot of horn band tunes. Arty Chu played Bari Sax, Juan Watanabe played alto sax, Johnny Serrano played 1st trumpet, Denise and Tony Escobar was there too. I made a whopping $8!!! Man, that was a killer band for a bunch of young cats!
Ok, More to come later......

blog flog

Hi All,
I wanted to take a moment to say hello and share my day with you. It's about 10:14am, the wife is still asleep (we stayed up and watched SNL) and I'm cleaning up my email list and drinking coffee. (she just got up at 10:20....)
I had a pretty fun day yesterday. How many of you know what the life of a musician/educator is like? At times, it can seem gruelling and other times, a slice of heaven. And some days a bit of both.
I cut back my teaching load from 57 students to 37, from 6 days a week to 4 and relocated all of my teaching to Mountain View, where Susan and I live. I have a small studio on Hope Street that I'm in the process of tweaking. I still teach at West Valley Music owned by Diana Tucker on Wednesdays and love it. The music selection is fantastic and the staff is friendly and helpful.
I used to teach in San Mateo at Myriad Studios and in SSF at Bronstein Music. I miss Bronsteins very much. Rich and Don are a couple of the nicest people you could ever work with and the trumpet selection is one of the best anywhere. Anyhow, I gotta run...more on the day later.
John

Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo Live at The Jazz and Blues Store

Here's an email I sent out to folks about my next Ed Johnson gigs coming up this weekend:

Hello Friends,

Here is a quick note to music lovers around the world. Tomorrow night, Saturday (10/8) starting at 7:30pm pst, you can hear Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo (one of my favorite bands to play in) LIVE on the internet. We will be streaming from the Jazz and Blues Store (just click on this link and follow the directions) in Carmel, CA. You can listen for free in the comfort of your home or come on down to Carmel and see it live.

This music has it's roots steeped in the heart of Brazil and the expressive freedom of jazz - and that combination comes alive in the stunning compositions of Ed Johnson.
Ed's music, along with Wayne Wallace's expert guidance, helped shape the concept of my band, WorlView. I hope you can take a moment on Saturday night to tune in and hear for yourself the beauty of Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo.

Novo Tempo will also be playing live at Santana Row in San Jose this Tuesday, October 11th, from 6-9pm. (Another chance to hear great music for free!) The bandstand is located in the court yard in front of Maggiano's Restaurant next to Starbucks. Bring a coat, folding chair or blanket and enjoy compositions from Ed's CD's: "Over That Wave", "Movimento" and a new one that we are presently in the midst of recording. I hope to see you there and don't forget to come up and say hello.
Thanks for listening!
John L. Worley Jr.

PS. On November 5th, I'll be celebrating my 50th birthday and my 40th year of playing the trumpet at BoAs/Club Elite on Steven's Creek Boulevard in Cupertino, CA. WorlView will be playing and I hope that you stop by to help me me celebrate this milestone. It should be one heck of a good hang!!!