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Class of 2020
Class of 2020
Interview
Interview
How long have you played the euphonium?
I started playing the euphonium in fourth grade at the Renbrook School, so 8 years.
What other instruments do play?
I play the tuba and the valve trombone when the situation calls for it, and am learning to play the slide trombone so I can continue jazz band in college!
What ensembles have you been a part of?
From fourth grade through high school, I was in the concert band of whatever school I was attending; but in high school I had to switch into jazz band due to scheduling conflicts. I've very glad I did. I've been in jazz band all four years and love it, and with members from the ensemble I've had the pleasure to be in a brass quintet and trombone quartet my junior year and a jazz combo my senior year. I've also played in the Chatham Town Band since my sophomore year.
What's your favorite jazz band memory?
I think it'd have to be Swing Night, my freshman year. In honor of Mr. Rathbone, our then-director, since he was leaving the following year, we decided to surprise him at the end of the concert and burst out into a song the band had played the prior year, Hot Sauce. Emily VanRyswood, our senior trumpet player and his intern, got the music to everybody from his office a few days earlier, and it was really fun! Mr. Rathbone was very caught off-guard and his face was hilarious! Benjamin Hoopes, our junior tenor sax player, then gave him a big goody-bag from the band at the end. It was really nice.
What have been your favorite songs from each year?
2016-2017: Samantha by Sammy Nestico
2017-2018: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman
2018-2019: I Wan'na Be Like You by Louis Prima
2019-2020: American Patrol by Glenn Miller
Anything else you'd like to share?
Thank you to all the friends I've made here. You guys are the best, and I wouldn't be the person I am today without you guys!
Euphonium in Jazz
Euphonium in Jazz
The euphonium is not the most traditional jazz instrument, but nonetheless it's not unprecedented. The most famous proponent of the jazz euphonium was Rich Matteson (1929-1993). He started out his professional music career in the 1950s in U.S. Army Bands, the Bob Scoby Dixieland Band, and Dukes of Dixieland, largely on tuba. However, as he grew older, he became the virtuoso of euphonium jazz. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he performed at many jazz festivals on euphonium, released jazz albums such as "Easy Street" (1980) and "Groovey" (1982), and played with various other ensembles such as St. John's River City Band (1987). He is also known for founding the Matteson-Phillips TubaJazz Consort, a big band of euphoniums, tubas, and a rhythm section in 1975, and composing various big band arrangements that are still used in jazz ensembles to this day.
Other jazz euphonium players include Gus Manusco, who released two albums with his quartet on baritone in 1956 and 1957, Marc Dickman, who released his album A Weaver of Dreams in 2004; Tom Ball, whose Fishleather Jacket released in 2005; and a few more.
I hope more euphonium players come to the genre in the future! It's very fun!
Rich Matteson
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