http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids....

I play all the trombone and trumpet parts on this arrangement of Bye Bye Blackbird.

After much encouragement from many trumpeters from around the world, I have now set up and tested my Webcam Trumpet Lessons package. I will begin taking students as early as Monday, 11/17/08!

I am also offering to do clinics for high school and college brass sections in the same fashion online.

Just go to my website, http://www.nickdrozdoff.com , and hit the Online Lessons tab for the details.

I look forward to helping those who are interested.

Of course, my free Online Lesson videos will be left up. In fact, I want folks to watch those first, before deciding to arrange a Webcam lesson.

Peace.

Nick Drozdoff

I have just restructured my pricing for clinics, concerts and solo appearances. My original structure in an effort to establish balance just ended up being too complicated. I now have a very simple set of flat rates for 8 hour work days. In the continental 48, the fee is $850 including room board and transportation; no ups no extras. For the rest of the US and Canada (Hawaii, Alaska and other territories) the flat rate is $1000.

For overseas gigs (Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, etc.) all fees are negotiated on a gig per gig basis. If multiple bookings can be arranged the expense of travel arrangements overseas can be mitigated.

I also have a new repertoire list posted.

Performance Repertoire - Classical - Concert Band or Orchestra:

• Concerto by Alexander Arutunian
• Concerto 2 by Fisher Tull
• Concerto in Eb by Haydn
• Concerto in Eb by Hummel
• Concerto in Eb by Neruda
• Concerto in D by Tartini
• Sonata in D by Torelli
• Carnival of Venice - Staigers or Arban

Performance Repertoire - Jazz - Big Band:

• Horn of Puente - Goodwin
• Children of Sanchez - Mangione/Lill
• As A Gnome Ran - Drozdoff/Stewart
• Bye Bye Blackbird - arr. Stewart
• Nice 'N Juicy - Steinberg (Ferguson Chart)
• Stardust - arr. Stewart
• Out of The Abyss - Corpolongo
• If The Shew Fits - Mantooth
• Home On The Upper Range - Shutack
• Blues for Nick - Stewart
• Spring Is Here - arr. Mantooth
• Maria - original Ferguson arrangement

For more information please go to my primary website.

Clinics: http://www.nickdrozdoff.com/music.php
Media: http://www.nickdrozdoff.com/media.php

Also, http://www.nickdrozdoff.com has an online lessons page. Feel free to hit that tab and explore. This is a free service to all interested parties.

For availability check with me at nick@nickdrozdoff.com .

Please be patient with this slightly maudlin post, but if you've read the article I wrote for Adrian, you'll understand my feelings. On the outside chance you don't know, Maynard passed away on August 23. My cousin, Steve Wiest, and I have exchanged some phone calls. In all honesty, I can't help feeling just a trifle emotional about this. So, please forgive the sentimentality of this post.

The Impact of Maynard Ferguson on My Professional Life as a Trumpeter:

It is 2:50 on August 24, 2006. I just taught 90 minutes of classes putting on a happy face even though I was struggling with a sense of sadness at just hearing of the passing of trumpet legend, Maynard Ferguson. I got through it, and will be fine, of course. More on that, later.

Now, folks who know me well may ask, Why are you so bothered by this? You only really did three complete tours with him! You didnt even finish a full year! Well, these queries deserve answers.

First, I left when I did, by and large due to the fact that I was a newlywed when I went on the road with Maynard. My new wife was very supportive of the move onto the road. She knew how important to a young trumpeter it was to go on the road with Maynard Ferguson. However, I felt I had to come home when I did. This was made easier due to some personal challenges (which had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with Maynard!) I was facing on the road.

Next, those three tours I did with Maynard Ferguson were some of the most cherished moments of my career. My life would not have been the same without them. I learned a great deal about trumpet playing, musicianship, jazz and humanity that I would have missed had I not had that experience. I learned as much about me as I did one of the greatest jazz trumpet legends who ever lived.

Maynard has had a huge impact of the lives of virtually every trumpeter, in some way. Certainly, the legacy of high notes is there. However, Ferguson brought a sense of musicianship and artistry to that aspect of trumpet playing that has only been approached by others. I recently posted a comment in a forum about Maynards version of Gershwins Summertime on a recording with Max Roach, Dinah Washington and Clifford Brown. In listening to that piece, one can only stand in sheer awe at the power and majesty of his work. I was more than just an athletic event. It was beautiful music in the hands of a master trumpeter.

For me, The Fox will live on forever in his recordings, of course, but also in the memories of the conversations I had with him during my brief tenure on his band his words of encouragement and advice through some rough patches I had along with his stories about his experiences with other jazz greats. His jovial and kind nature will never be diminished in my mind. Those moments in hanging out with him on the band bus, on the airplane to Japan, on bullet train platforms, the rehearsals in Orlando Florida, his joking around with us, will always be with me. Ill never forget the time he met my wife and then treated her to my getting to trade solos with him on Latino Lovewalk at Rolling Meadows High School. He was an incredible gentleman to her and extremely greacious to me in that consideration. When Alan Wise dubbed me Studio Man, Ferguson was like another little kid with that, too! I could go on, but Ill spare you. I may have only done three tours, but oh what a three tours those were!

In short, I am a very privileged man. I got to be on the road with one of the greatest jazz legends of our time. Certainly, hell be missed, but rather than morn his passing, I am going to celebrate his life and all the beauty and joy he brought us.

Much gratitude is due to Maynard Ferguson, for my part.

Nick Drozdoff

 

I am an endorsing artist for the New York Trumpet Company, owned by Felix Vayser. I play the Stage 1 California model. I would like to tellyou about it here.

First, before I came over to playing Felix's horns, I was playing a Chiccago Brassworks Model GSC (serial number 4!) made by Wayne Tanabe. I love that horn and there wasn't a darn thing wrong with it. It is a collector's item.

However, when Felix sent me his horn for consideration I was stunned by the versatility of the instrument! I plays so easily, I can't describe it. It produces a wonderful big sound. It will play soft and mellow when played lightly, yet I can curl the hair of the saxophone section if I feel like uncorking it a bit. It will fit well in both classical and jazz environments.

On top of that, it has, without a shadow of a doubt, the best valves I have ever played.

In short it is the best custom horn I've ever had. Sure there are other great manufacturers out there, but if you're considering buying a new horn, you OWE it to yourself to try a Stage 1. Felix has several models, each of which play beautifully and yet have sufficiently different characteristics to warrant your trying them out to see what fits best for you.

Felix also has some very reasonable prices for horns of this quality. To contact him, visit his site at http://www.newyorktrumpetcompany.com .

Now, I'd like to add a word or two about Felix. I have known him for just over a year. I must say that this is one of the most decent indaviduals I have worked with in my many years in the music business. In addtion to being a master craftsman and manufacturer, he is a music promoter/emprasario. I have been involved with several of the so-called BIG brass manufacturing firms in an artistic capacity of one form or another. NOBODY has come even CLOSE to being as positive supporter of my work as a trumpet artist as Felix Vayser has.

In conclusion, The New York Trumpet Company owned by Felix Vayser is far more than just the manufactuer and distributor of some of the finest trumpets and flugelhorns out there. It is a company dedicated to making the world just a little more beautiful.

http://www.newyorktrumpetcompany.com

Visit them. You'll be glad you did.

Peace.

Nick Drozdoff

This is a direct lik to the article I wrote for the UK Brass forum on my experiences on the road with Maynard Ferguson.

http://www.brass-forum.co.uk/Articles/NickDrozdoffMaynardFerguson.htm

One of my brushes with greatness!

Peace.

Nick

This is a direct link to the UK Brass Forum article I wrote. It deals with survival as a free-lance trumpeter.

http://www.brass-forum.co.uk/Articles/NickDrozdoffLifeintheTrenches.htm

I hope this can help some younger players out there trying to find their way.

Peace.

Nick Drozdoff

No Man Is An Island  Nick Drozdoff, trumpet with jazz quintet

Nick Drozdoff, Chicago area trumpeter and Maynard Ferguson Orchestra alum has just released a new CD of original music and some standards with some of the finest musicians in Chicago. This CD boasts a wide variety of styles ranging from New Orleans funk (As  Gnome Ran) to straight ahead be-bop (Blues Waltz) to 70s retro (Punks Funk) to old torch songs (A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and What Is This Thing Called Love). The title of the CD, released on Mr. Ds Music, is No Man Is An Island.

The sidemen on this recording are a list of jazz luminaries from the Chicago area. Dave Dorsett and Frank Dawson are on guitar. Greg Barone and Steve Hashimoto are on bass. Larry Beers and Isi Perez are drums. Finally, Bob Applebaum and Neil Artwick are covering the keyboards. Along with Drozdoff, these are busy free-lancers entrenched in Chicagos vibrant jobbing scene. Normally limited to playing at society events and trade shows, these musicians are letting their hair down on this project.

Drozdoff has been a fixture in Chicagos jobbing arena for many years since he left Maynard Fergusons band in 1981. After many years running his own contracting business and completing his masters in classical trumpet, he began leading a double life in 1991 when he took on a day gig as a high school physics teacher. Drozdoff has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, allowing him to easily slip into a high school physics class. Drozdoff currently teaches physics and APB physics at Winnetkas New Trier High School. He has been leading a double career existence, garnering awards as a high school science teacher and developing endorsement deals as a jazz trumpeter at night.

Drozdoff currently endorses the New York Trumpet Company Stage 1 series of trumpets and plays their California model. Felix Vayser, the owner of the NYTC sponsored this recording. Drozdoff will also be featured on a NYTC company recording completed in Saratoga, New York in January. It is currently in the mixing stages in Perth, Australia as of now. Drozdoff also endorses the Eclipse Flugelhorns, made in London, England.

Much of Drozdoffs current efforts can be connected to his double career and dual background. Using his engineering and physics background, he has built a recording studio where he does his recording. He has used his background with computers to build connections all over the world as a trumpeter. So far, No Man Is An Island has been sold in places ranging from Singapore to Japan to England to Croatia as well as across the United States and Canada

This current CD is an effort to move away from computer generated music to a more organic sound or a real live jazz band. The title, No Man Is an Island, is a tribute to a philosophy Drozdoff has understood for some time. Every musician evolves as a performer and composer in the light of other fine musicians. This recording is as a much a tribute to the expressive and creative skills of fine sidemen as it is a showcase for Drozdoffs trumpet playing, composing and arranging.

No Man Is An Island is currently available primarily at Drozdoffs web site, via his Artists Store at Mp3unsigned.com.
http://www.mp3unsigned.com/NickDrozdoff.ASP

His CD can also be found at other internet sites as well as at Evanston Band and Orchestra at 4819 Main Street in Skokie, Illinois.
Performance Credits for Nick Drozdoff
Professional Music Background as a Trumpeter
The following is a list summarizing Nick Drozdoff's personal professional experiences as a trumpeter throughout his career.
 Performed with Chicago Symphony Orchestra members for the Apollo Chorus
 Maynard Ferguson Orchestra
 Featured Soloist at New Trier High School jazz band concerts
 Jazz Quintet featured at Glenbard North High School in 2006
 Featured Soloist with the Bensenville Concert Band
 Featured soloist with the Lake Forest Symphony
 Featured soloist with the Glenbrook North High School Concert Band
 Featured soloist with the Oak Lawn Symphony
 Recitalist at College of Lake County (Faculty Member), Roosevelt University, American Conservatory of Music
 Featured Soloist with Wright College Big Bands
 On record albums for Guy Fricano, Marshall Vente, Doug Lofstrom, Chuchito Valdes and Maynard Ferguson (live in Japan, 1981)
 The Ojays
 Dennis De Young of Styx
 Keely Smith
 Sammy Davis, Jr.
 Melissa Manchester
 Rich Little
 John Denver
 The Spinners
 The Temptations
 Gladys Knight and the Pips
 Patti Page
 Frankie Lane
 Della Resse
 Carole Lawrence
 Robert Goulet
 Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme
 Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers)
 Bobby Vinton
 Vic Damone
 Frankie Avalon
 Diahann Carroll
 Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin
 Rosemary Clooney
 Helen O'Connell
 Pat Boone
 Lawrence Welk All Stars
 Bill Cosby
 Dick Shawn
 George Kirby
 Jack Jones
 Liberace
 Julie Budd
 Tex Beneke
 The Larry Eckerling Orchestra
In addition to this Drozdoff ran his own contracting business for thirteen years. He led bands and brass ensembles for everything from weddings to large corporate events. His trumpet playing has been heard on recordings for radio and TV as well as on Chicago area jazz record albums for artists such as Marshall Vente, Doug Lofstrom, Chuchito Valdes, and Guy Fricano. He is currently on call as solo trumpet with the Chicago Grandstand Big Band and is on call as lead or solo trumpet with various Chicago area big bands. Drozdoff is frequently called upon to appear as a classical soloist in churches and in recital environments. He also still leads one of the Chicago area's finest brass quintets.
What Some People Have Said About Nick Drozdoff and His Music:
Maynard Ferguson:
"Nick is one of today's strongest players."
Larry Kart, Chicago Tribune:
"a powerful lead trumpeter..."
Owen Cordle, Downbeat Magazine:
"soaring trumpet work..."
Barry Winograd, WXRT Radio:
Nick Drozdoff is one of Chicago's most versatile and refreshing musicians."

 

Professional/Educational Background for Nick Drozdoff
Educational Background
 Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Washington University, St. Louis
 Master of Music from Roosevelt University
 Masters in Physics/Teaching from DePaul University
 Type 9 teaching certificate in physics, physical science and instrumental music
Professional Experience
 Electronics Technician at McDonnell Douglas Aricraft in St. Louis
 Design Engineer at Motorola in Schaumburg
 Maynard Ferguson Orchestra
 Free lance trumpeter
 Currently physics teacher at New Trier High School
 Teacher of Physics and Physical Sciences at Glenbrook North High School
 Teacher of Physics, AP Physics (B and C) and Physical Science at Zion-Benton High School
 Clinician and Lecturer on Brasswind Playing and Music
 Lecturer on Science Educational Techniques
 Lecturer on the Physics of Music
June 2000 Recipient of the John Rush Award from the Illinois State Physics Project
Nominated Teacher of the Year - Glenbrook North High School  1995
Science Teacher of the Year - Sigma Xi - Northern Illinois  1994
Also wrote Teachers' Manual for Unified Science Course at Glenbrook North High School and co-wrote text for Teller Video Project at Illinois Math and Science Academy