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“Hank Feldman is one of the most exciting and unique performers to emerge in the last three decades. He is equally comfortable in the "classical" and jazz idioms on the still unusual solo and jazz instrument, the tuba. As a music educator and administrator, he is creating a new paradigm for music in the schools that is of vital importance and relevance.” - Fritz Kaenzig, Professor of Tuba and Euphonium, University of Michigan “Hank Feldman is an outstanding and versatile performer and composer. His solo and jazz playing is powerful and exciting, and his compositions and arrangements have style and substance. Hank is taking the tuba in some new directions, and making terrific music in the process!” - John Stevens, Composer, Professor Tuba and Euphonium, University of Wisconsin-Madison "Hank has a freshness on the Tuba that is deserving great recognition! Hank shows a mature mastery of the tuba in the way he shifts styles and really says something in his performance. He is a man of many talents, especially in the field of education. Keep all ears and eyes on this man for the future!” - Jon Sass, Tuba Soloist/Composer, Vienna, Austria
The Multi-Talented pianist Daniel “Sly” Slipetsky,
Jr. joins Hank on tuba as they both perform Oscar Pettiford's immortal
Blues in the Closet. Tucson, Arizona, Summer, 2003
“Hank has the rare ability to shift between a great variety of musical genres with the necessary stylistic precision.” - Oystein Baadsvik, Performing Artist, Conductor and Educator, Norway “Hank is an incredible multi-talented artist with a tremendous amount of innovative educational insight to offer in a number of different settings from classical to jazz performance, commercial and artistic composition/arranging combined with a keen sense of organizational and administrative skills. He knows "how to please an audience" and at the same time adhere to the highest artistic standards. I've seen him "in action" on numerous occasions in a wide variety of musical presentations and it is always a delight and pleasure to hear him perform and watch him communicate with his audience. I am extremely proud to consider him a friend and colleague and am more than pleased at the tremendous success he has attained with his professional career.” - R. Winston Morris, Professor of Music, Tennessee Technological University
Hank Feldman has been increasingly active in the brass world and his first CD shows off the diverse interests he has pursued. On his CD, Tubesia. Feldman demonstrates his abilities as a composer, performer, and jazz artist. The CD opens with Rachmaninoff’s lush and lovely Floods of Spring, and a Rachmaninoff Vocalise is also included. Feldman’s own composition, Sueños Negros for tuba, percussion, and piano, is a contemporary, highly charged work full of contrasting emotions that demonstrates his technique as well as it does his writing. A final touch to the first half of the CD is Eduardo de Curtis’ Torna a Surriento, a haunting and beautiful ballad. On all four works Feldman is assisted on piano by Marie Sierra, whose playing is as emotional and forceful as the works performed. Another of Feldman’s compositions, Images, is included on the CD. It is a multi-movement unaccompanied work that explores the technique, range, and expression of which the tuba is capable. The five short movements War, Solitude, Desire, False Peace… and Perseverance are as descriptive on the horn as their titles would suggest. The second half of the CD shifts gears, with Feldman being joined by jazz saxophonist Willie Hill, Jr., Jeff Haskell at the piano, Rene Camacho on bass, Robin Horn at the drums, and Latin percussionists Guillermo “Bubba” Fass and Arturo Rodriguez. A set of six traditional jazz tunes and one Jewish tune place the tuba firmly as a solo instrument within the standard jazz combo set-up. From Duke Ellington’s In a Sentimental Mood to Dizzy Gillespie’s A Night in Tunisia, Feldman shows that he can more than hold his own in such a group. As a whole the CD is thoroughly enjoyable. Feldman’s continued work in the jazz and classical idioms, his compositions, and his constant efforts to promote jazz and the tuba should be anticipated with interest by all of us. Dave Ihlenfeld, Northern Arizona University 2002 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference,
Greensboro, NC Enrique "Hank" Feldman greeted the interested and avid jazz fans at the clinic with a CD playing some Afro-Cuban grooves, setting the stage for some musical explorations in the jazz idiom. Mr. Feldman stressed the importance of cross-culture grooves and the use of improvisation to strengthen musicianship. He mentioned that in the original Greek culture, the use of the word "musician" was a term of respect meaning that the person was well-rounded or worldly. The primary resources for this presentation were Getting it Together, a play-along CD featuring Sam Pilafian and Frank Vignola, and a book entitled Approaching the Standards, a play-along CD and book with full rhythm section. Mr. Feldman explained that the art of improvisation began years ago with the realizations of figured bass in the days of Bach, and that classically-trained players had lost the art of this self-expression. He stressed the concept of freeing the mind, as when you memorize a solo and can then focus on the musical aspects of the music. He encouraged the participants at the clinic session to take chances and try new concepts. The reason he recommended these particular CDs was because they focused mainly on one key center, so that the student had plenty of time to rehearse new patterns for a period of about 5 minutes. This develops confidence in improvising, rather than trying to absorb several chord changes in a few bars. Using the CDs, Mr. Feldman used a call and response technique of having the students listen to the rhythm section and repeat simple scalar patterns that he demonstrated. At first, these were three-note patterns and Eb major. Then he would play scales starting on each scale degree, and continued by playing thirds and finally four-note patterns. The students all played along enthusiastically in the demonstration. Mr. Feldman stressed several times that this clinic was sort of a "grass roots" approach to starting into the world of improvisation, a very "user-friendly" approach. He also encouraged the players to play with a good sound and a good groove right from the start.Two of the techniques stressed in Mr. Feldman’s clinic were the use of harmonic and rhythmic tension in soloing. For rhythmic tension he discussed the use of repeated notes, the hemiola, and the technique of holding a note across several beats. He demonstrated with the Afro-Cuban CD and with the tune Caravan on the Approaching the Standards. He was essentially trying to soften the fears of starting on the journey of improvisation, and was effective in using playing, humor and audience participation to make his point. At the end of the session he suggested that this was a beginning point, and that students should still use their ears, take musical risks, get into the music and think more like a musician than just a tuba or euphonium dude. Marty Erickson, ITEA Jazz Editor/Lecturer of Tuba/Euphonium, Lawrence University University of Arizona Tuba-Euphonium
Ensemble Under the direction of Hank C. Feldman, the eight-member University of Arizona Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble gave a fine performance of John Cheetham’s Consortium as the musical prelude to the jazz concert. Of note was the group’s excellent ensemble throughout, particularly its phrase shapes, dynamic shadings, treatment of contrasting euphonium and tuba lines, and ability to achieve a superb blend between the two quartets. ITG Journal - September, 1996 Jazz Night in the Piazza - 1997
International Tuba-Euphonium Conference “Jazz Night in the Piazza was surely one of the highlights in a week of spectacular performances... ” Emily Harris
“...A host of local folk joined with a host of conference folk to enjoy some truly fabulous music making by some of the folks creating the future of jazz for the euphonium and tuba – Hank Feldman and Jun Yamaoka – as well as some of the legends of the business, Jim Self, Eli Newberger, Sam Pilafian, and Jon Sass.” Jerry Young
2002 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference Greensboro, North Carolina, May 28 Jazz Jam hosted by Hank Feldman "... Although not part of the Rich Matteson Competition, all the competitors are playing on the evening jazz jams. Hank Feldman mentioned that this was a way to continue to foster musicianship through the idiom of jazz..." David Spies, Southeastern Oklahoma State University 2002 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference
Greensboro, NC In the tradition of previous ITECs, an entire evening concert was devoted to jazz euphonium and tuba performances. This year’s concert included solo appearances by Hank Feldman, Steve Call and Oystein Baadsvik, as well as the featured jazz ensemble, The MJT Project. It was a very full evening, with each solo artist performing thirty-minute sets and MJT Project performing a full ninety-minute program. The rhythm section for the evening was the MJT Project rhythm section, which included Mel Deal on guitar, Steve Willets on piano, Jim Ferguson on bass and Bob Mater on drums. It was this incredible rhythm section that made for a very solid evening of jazz. Feldman, who has been very instrumental in programming jazz in previous ITECs, opened with a pyrotechnic version of Juan Tizol’s Caravan, followed by a tango-inspired slow ballad by Consuelo Velasquez dedicated to his wife in honor of their ninth wedding anniversary. Finishing his set was a Latin Klezmer tune entitled Faith. For those who attended, it was memorable, and for those who stuck it out to the very end, it was fantastic! Kudos to all involved! David Spies, Southeastern Oklahoma State University 2002 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference
Greensboro, NC One of the main attractions at ITEC 2002 is Symphonia, the only professional tuba-euphonium ensemble, which presented a concert Thursday night after the Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented by ITEA president Skip Gray on behalf of the organization.
Throughout their performance, the ensemble showcased the technical and lyrical possibilities of the tuba and euphonium. At times, I felt as though I was listening to a great organ singing to the heavens above. If you have never heard the group perform, I strongly encourage you to pick up one of their CDs. The group presented a nearly flawless performance. The transcriptions included familiar works, such as William Tell and Variations on America. It was really great to hear euphoniums and tubas play licks properly that trumpets and clarinets always seem to struggle with in band and orchestra. Symphonia also premiered two new works. Sinfonietta was written by David Uber and is in a traditional four movement symphonic form. The first movement, marked Maestoso, is written in a functional style and begins with a chorale, which is followed by a fast 5/8 section. The second movement was impressionistic and marked Andantino. The scherzo movement was rapid and contained many tight and dissonant harmonies, contrasting from the previous two movements. The final movement is marked Allegro agitato, and written in a jazz idiom with some clapping and spoken parts. This work, about twelve minutes in length, is a fine addition to the repertoire. Threnody, for the voices silenced on Sept. 11, 2001 was written for four euphoniums, four tubas, and solo flute. Andrea Artley, a member of the U.S. Army Band Pershing’s Own, performed the flute part. The orchestration reminded me of the opening of Karel Husa’s Music for Prague, 1968, one of the great works in the wind repertoire, where the piccolo represents a bird prior to the invasion of Soviet forces. This is my own analogy, and the composer, Neal Corwell, may not have intended this. Other than that, I can only say that I found the work disturbing, but well done. Symphonia closed its concert with several patriotic selections, including a rendition of The Stars and Stripes Forever. The piccolo came out to play the solo, rather, performed the tuba part while Dennis AsKew (ITEC 2002 host) and Skip Gray performed the solo. It was a fine ending to a stellar performance. Ken Drobnak, Olivet College |
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