Monday YouTube Fix: Maurice André

I was very fortunate growing up to have a father who was very interested in classical music.  He had a large collection of compact discs before it was common.  In fact, he picked upped our family's first CD player on a business trip to Tokyo when they were still incredibly expensive here in the States.  As a brass player himself growing up, he had quite a few albums by many different brass players.  One of the artists I remember the most was Maurice André. What a sound.  What style.  What phrasing.  He was the consummate artist.  His trumpet playing was lush and always passionate.  His sound is one that an entire generation of brass players has modeled themselves after.  I was honored to meet him in 2001 at the ITG in Manchester, England.

Mr. André passed away last month and the world lost a true gem.  May he rest in peace.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLDF8OeD-hc]