ME AND MY TRUMPET

I starting playing the trumpet in 1979 and I play a Flip Oakes Wild Thing trumpet, which
I purchased in February 2004.  I switch between a Bach 1B, a customized Schilke 14A4A,
and a Monette B11 mouthpiece depending on whether I'm playing jazz or "legit" music.

Wild Thing review:  I love it!  It plays much different than my old horns, but once I
got used to it, I can play higher with it than I could with my old horns, and it has a
much better sound and better response in all registers.  It comes with a .470 bore slide
and a "conical" slide that starts at .460 and opens up to .470, but I always use the full
.470 bore slide because it has a fatter sound, which I prefer over the "smaller" sound.

In 2017, I found a great deal on a Benge X7 which also has a .470 bore and I play it now instead
of the Wild Thing. I love it too. There's nothing wrong with the Wild Thing, I just decided I wanted
to try a new horn, and this is what I found that I liked. I've been playing on it a couple of years now.

I also have a Monique pocket trumpet, two cornets, two E-Flat trumpets, a Tiger plastic piccolo trumpet,
an Allure plastic B-flat, a Getzen herald trumpet, a trombone, and a Yamaha YTR6335S, purchased in 1980, 
which a friend of mine converted to a C trumpet. I play it at church and for other gigs when appropriate.

I don't have an extremely high range, but I can play up to double high C (C4), and on occasion, or D 
or E or above it.  I can actually play higher, but it's just "squeaking" and not real playing.


I've played with many different groups including:
The Memphis doctor's Band
The Memphis Jazz Orchestra
The Southaven Wind Symphony
The Main Street Jazz Orchestra
The Germantown (TN) Symphony Orchestra
The Mercedes Knights (now called the Memphis Knights)
The Al Chymia Shrine Dance band (The Noble Sounds) and brass band
The Memphis Swing Orchestra (previously the VA Hospital Jazz Band)
The Desoto Community Band (formerly the Olive Branch Community band)

and have played a few commercial gigs with a few groups including
Charles Wilson the "Crown Prince of Soul" and Uncle Mal

I also play sometimes for several North Mississippi school drama departments and Desoto Family 
Theater.  I have played in West Side Story, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, The Scarlet Pimpernel, 
Damn Yankees, Les Mis, Joseph, and I'm sure a few others that I don't remember right off hand.

I used to play at Leawood Baptist Church in Memphis every week, then I was the on staff trumpet player and assitant
orchestra leader at Trinity Baptist in Southaven, then at First Baptist Church of Horn Lake, MS and now currently at
Leawood East in Cordova, TN and have been known to play at different churches around the city from time to time.

I am also a fairly accomplished amateur arranger with a published jazz chart 
and as of October 2020 I am the player on several charts on a published CD.