acn Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 (edited) Adam Rapa is a well known name to many here, I'm guessing. I don't know a whole lot about him, other than he marched East Coast Jazz, performed with Blast, and briefly played with Maynard (I think). Anyway check out the link, in particular clip #3 - it's amazing how differences from just changing mouthpieces. http://www.monette.net/newsite/news.htm Obviously he's an amazing player, but I've only heard him on the CD's from '98. So lets hear some stories about Adam, and some suggestions on where I can hear more of him. Thanks. Edited May 5, 2007 by acn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 Adam Rapa is a well known name to many here, I'm guessing. I don't know a whole lot about him, other than he marched East Coast Jazz, performed with Blast, and briefly played with Maynard (I think). Anyway check out the link, in particular clip #3 - it's amazing how differences from just changing mouthpieces. http://www.monette.net/newsite/news.htmObviously he's an amazing player, but I've only heard him on the CD's from '98. So lets hear some stories about Adam, and some suggestions on where I can hear more of him. Thanks. My favorite Adam Rapa moment is in I think 1998 when he was with ECJ and he had this lush solo in a ballad. While playing this solo, holding the horn with only his right hand, he had this guard girl in his left hand, kinda twirling her around as she had a dance solo. A total "pimp daddy trumpet/soprano player" moment. And on that link... what on earth does the "OCTAV-EYE-ZER" supposed to do???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertrombone Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 Only met Adam once, at TMEA 04 I think. He guest soloed on the Wehrle (sp?) Trumpet Concerto when I was with Metropolitan Winds. Now, you guys have to understand, Met Winds had Arturo Sandoval a few years back as our guest artist at Dallas' Meyerson Symphony Center, and he stunk up the joint--literally. Unprepared, hadn't practiced. I'll load up the recording sometime. Pretty pathetic. He discovered the piano in his old age and was more interested in playing the grand the DSO uses than what he's known for. Says, "next time I'll bring my own band" for the Wehrle and the other big piece we played with him. That's OK, Art--next time we'll have Adam! Well, we did! TMEA finally invites Met Winds, probably the finest amateur wind band in Texas, if not a little bit larger geographic region, to attend and give a clinic. Something like "Programming and Entertainment." I joined MW in 98 (part of the big reason why I took such a long break from DC, I'm sure) and our first big performance was the music of Superman by John Williams--wow!! If you music majors aren't familiar with the stuff, check it out some time--I mean, REALLY check it out! Yeah, listening you can tell it's good, and obviously everybody recognizes it since it's entertaining, but I mean, Mozart does some of the same stuff Williams has mastered! Duple-triple stuff (eighth notes against triplets for the untrained), etc. Side note, we played a whole bunch of Hollywood stuff that had literally never been performed--movies premiered, it was recorded on a sound stage, and the scores were buried! We got special permission from Williams for our music director, Randol "Randy" Bass to arrange Star Wars, Superman, and several of his television things specifically for us. If you ever get the chance to play in an ensemble where the music you play is arranged specifically taking into account strengths in the ensemble, I HIGHLY recommend it! What an experience. MW did several concerts with themes like Broadway, concert band music, and our annual summer Hollywood spectacular. Had Arturuo come out, Bruce Broughton conducting his own music--what an honor and a thrill! The type of stuff you'd expect the Dallas Pops to be doing at the Meyerson, not some amateur group of teachers, mortgage brokers, accountants, dentists, etc. Wow! Well, back to Adam, the TMEA thing was a compilation of all of these "theme" concerts. We were so disgusted with Arturo and Randy so wanted to REALLY perform the Wehrle up to snuff that he called on Adam Rapa of Blast fame to come in. And what a humble guy!! My gosh, if you ever get the opportunity to work with him, enjoy the experience! Approachable, sincere, and one heck of a talented musician! I kind of tried to keep my distance any time he was with us for dress rehearsal, performance, or even dinner after these b/c I figured he got the whole "Hero Worship" thing all the time, so I just shook his hand and said, "Had a blast, thanks for coming out, best wishes!" Somehow it came out that I had done corps a few times and auditioned for Blast (actually, never sent in the tape! Oops! How do you do that? Put together the tape, put it in the envelope, and still have it!? Duh!). He really lit up when he heard all that and was all kinds of talkative. I kind of felt like a jerk when I was the one pulling away to catch my flight. Here's this guy who probably just wanted to interact with someone else with DC experience. I dunno. Oh, the video clips on him playing high are pretty cool, but every trumpet player worth his salt does that for breakfast. The TMEA performance was the funniest thing I've ever experienced! OK, Arturo, right? Plays the Wehrle, totally fracks a couple of really obvious places including at least two when the band completely drops out and it's supposed to be this old, tired, has-been blasting away three octaves up. Maybe in his younger years. Well, get to the end of the third movement and here comes the age-old obligatory cadenza. Arturo just kind of passes off something that we're all like, "that's all??" Randy was pretty disappointed, especially. Well, fast forward to Wonderboy Rapa. We give him a recording of the Sandoval thing and he goes wild. He IMITATES Arturo's cadenza!!! I mean, how Bach/Mozart does it get! You know, Bach was famous for his cadenzas and see the movie Amadeus for my Mozart explanation--brilliant talent when you can imitate another musicians' style and artistry! Adam proceeds through a cadenza that would make the greatest of solo violinists raise an eybrow, then ends by going, not up, but down, down, down--just like that tired old man who was completely wiped out and on his last breath! Randy's reaction was priceless. He's holding his baton ready to give us the downbeat for the last lick in the piece when Adam does his bass trombone imitation. He knew exactly what the guy was doing, dropped his head, shaking it with a smirk, shoulders slumping and just thinking, "I can't believe he just did that!" I wasn't kidding about the down, down, down part. I didn't know that a trumpet could play that low. Finishes with a lick and a scream about a 3rd above anything I've ever heard another trumpet player do! Crowd goes NUTS!! Was anybody there? I was in the band in the back row. I'd be interested to hear what the reaction was like from the hall. I'll see if I can find a video of that anywhere. We had recording equipment, maybe someone has a video of it. Great stuff! Long story, but well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acn Posted May 5, 2007 Author Share Posted May 5, 2007 (edited) And on that link... what on earth does the "OCTAV-EYE-ZER" supposed to do???? It's an April Fool's joke. And a lame one. Edited May 5, 2007 by acn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 Silvertrombone - that was a great story :) After watching the link --- HOLY CRAP !!!! Is there any way to hear the other years he was with East Coast Jazz other than 98??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slow Adam Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 I have a tape recording of ECJ 1997 Division III Finals...sssshhh, don't tell DCI I was recording in the stands. :sshh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 It's an April Fool's joke. And a lame one. It's an even lamer Cinco De Mayo joke. I'd love to see an entire DCI hornline outfitted with those things though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zachariaswmb Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 I'd love to see an entire DCI hornline outfitted with those things though. Would have been great GE for cavies in '04! Not that they needed any more GE for that show... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drewbugler Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 www.adamrapa.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fincis Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Only met Adam once, at TMEA 04 I think. He guest soloed on the Wehrle (sp?) Trumpet Concerto when I was with Metropolitan Winds........... Was anybody there? I was in the band in the back row. I'd be interested to hear what the reaction was like from the hall. I'll see if I can find a video of that anywhere. We had recording equipment, maybe someone has a video of it. Great stuff! Long story, but well worth it. I was there in the front row. Man that guy was amazing. There have been very very few trumpet players I've been more impressed with live. His performance will always remain one of the main highlights from TMEA. Absolutely wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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