The Brass Junkies 71: Jonathan Dorn

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What a life Jonathan Dorn has led! Professional tuba player for 30 including performances on Saturday Night Live and touring all over the world. Professional chef. The list goes on and on.

From the show notes:

Jonathan Dorn has played tuba for everyone from Leon Redbone to The Philadelphia Orchestra and got to hang out with John Belushi in the 70s, 'nuff said. He shares incredible (and hilarious stories) from over 50 years in the business.

Some of the crazy things he shares in this interview:

• How he got started on the tuba as a kid and worked his way through the ranks in Philly
• What it was like taking lessons with the legendary Abe Torchinsky
• Playing 16 shows (16!) a week with Ringling Brothers Circus (think bleeding chops) and getting to work with legendary cornet player and bandleader Merle Evans
• How he learned changes on the fly
• Passing off his regular gig with Your Father's Mustache to the legendary Bob Stewart
• What it was like performing on Saturday Night Live four times with Leon Redbone and partying with John Belushi and Chevy Chase in the '70's
• And how he became a professional chef after 30 years of playing the tuba professionally!

You can check out the complete show notes including all of the links mentioned during this episode over at Pedal Note Media.

Giving Students Complexes

From time to time we like to pass along great blog posts from colleagues around the internet.  Here is a very short post by John Ericson of Horn Matters relaying a story from the late, great Abe Torchinsky.  There is a great lesson for all of us in this quick story. Passing of Abe Torchinsky and Giving Students Complexes

By the way, for anyone who isn't familiar with Horn Matters, you should be.  It is one of the best online brass resources around and John and his colleague, Bruce Hembd, are great guys who are incredibly knowledgeable.