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JazzWords > Warren Vache'
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Warren Vache' is my hero, but not because he plays trumpet. He's my hero because he plays trumpet with
integrity, talent and warmth in a style that is romantic, passionate and reflective of players 50 years
ago. Having said all that, Warren needs to eat, and so this page is designed to help him play more and
therefore eat as often as he wants.
On one of his most recent alblums, the beautiful duo release with Bill Charlap on Nagel-Heyer, Warren shows
more of the stuff that made him a first call player with folks like Rosemary Clooney, Gerry Mulligan, the
Floating Jazz Festival and a successful recording artist for Concord Records, Muse and now Nagel-Heyer.
Don't be fooled by Warren's preference for the cornet as his instrument of choice. He merely likes the sound
it produces -- "rounded like an egg" in comparison with the edgier sound of the trumpet. His flugelhorn playing
also produces winning results, and Warren actually turned me on to a Conn Vintage One Flugelhorn that he
recommends highly.
A big influence on Warren's playing was his friend and teacher Pee Wee Erwin. Erwin played with Benny Goodman
just before he hit the big time, and then was with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra and the small group - The Clambake
Seven - with some pretty fair musicians like tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, Davey Tough on drums, and the Sentimental
Gentleman himself on trombone. Tommy favored the trumpet as his jazz instrument, and so his selection of Erwin for
both his big band and the smaller jazz unit was high praise. Listening to Erwin, you can hear the basis of Warren's
style, but Warren takes Erwin forward into bebop and the 21st century harmony and phrasing with a more adventurous,
yet mainstream approach. Without making too big a fuss about technique, Warren is as solid a player as you can find
today, and his recordings do not disappoint.
Another CD of Warren's that is slightly different from previous outings is "New York Swing". This CD was clearly an
attempt to capitalize on the swing dance craze of several years ago, and that's a great place to start. What impressed
me most was Warren's sense of humor and singing, which I could not fully appreciate until I heard him live at about the
time the CD was released (May 2000). There is a lot of tongue in cheek humor here, but Warren pokes fun at himself as
much as anyone, and his singing voice reminds me of Jack Sheldon doing Louis Prima, and how bad can that be? The whole
outing has a Prima-esque feel to it, which certainly tells you how much swing to expect.
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