My top five favorite BOB EDMONDSON PHRASES

S.J. Hoover

Member
Though I "missed" the '60s and obviously -as well as unfortunately- have no recollection of what the TJB were like live in their heyday...the vintage tv clips across the Web have given me a fair-enough(?) approximation of their stage demeanor (which: was what I kinda expected them to have been like) and also, actually, it kinda makes the albums now seem more "personable" when you can equate a visual to the music performed.
However, on all the album covers featuring the real group, the one guy that always piqued my interest was...the tall guy with the trombone whom looked like a younger -and slightly goofballish- version of the '50s method actor Jeff Corey: BOB EDMONDSON.
Bob's presence in the TJB, to me, always sounded like he was "co-lead" of the band(!). He was like the counterpart of a second "guitarist"; in being able to -both- drive the chord progression of a song or, in fact, double-up on Herb's main melody and create a "weaving" interplay with it.
Bob, certainly, seemed to have a very versatile sound (he could go from languid to jaunty in a moment's breadth). His peers -by all accounts- (thankfully) look to have acknowledged that in his playing days: from the resume opportunities he's had to sit-in with some of Big Band's and Jazz's all-time legends. [Before Bob, the only "names" of trombonists I knew were: James Pankow, Sy Zentner, and Ray Conniff:hide:.]

Well, I put together a three-and-change audio collage of my five favorite Bob Edmondson phrases within TJB arrangements; from 1965-1968 (BEAT and CHRISTMAS ALBUM are well stocked with them!:righton:). Apologies for the "home brew" rigging.
1. In a Little Spanish Town (0-:34)
2. Cabaret (.36-:55)
3. Let It Snow (.56-1:54)
4. Winter Wonderland (1:55-2:29)
5. It Was A Very Good Year (2:30-3:18)
If I'd made it 10, they'd go: 6. The Love Nest; 7. The Nicest Things Happen; 8. The Maltese Melody; 9. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (presuming? it *is* him); 10. Lollipops and Roses (def. sounds like Bob instead of Wells or McCreary).
 
Back on August 5 and 6, 1968, I attended two Tijuana Brass concert performances at Blossom Music Center here in northeast Ohio. Total audience for both nights was about 25, 000. I remember that both I'm Getting Sentimental and Cabaret were played. I also saw them again in Cleveland, Ohio, in October, 1969.

Herb had a unique way of having Bob play a ballad style solo in the Tommy Dorsey style as a intro on I'm Getting Sentimental as he introduced the song, and then the band went into the up tempo version heard on the Going Places album. As an ending, he slowed it back down again to close the song with Bob playing the same ballad style melody that he did in the beginning, and Herb said in closing, "Thank you, Tommy Dorsey, and thank you, Bob Edmondson." It was quite a contrast to hear Bob play the melody in the original Tommy Dorsey style, then hear the up tempo Tijuana Brass arrangement, and then to end with the ballad style of the original.

I am a trumpet player. However, I thought that Bob was an excellent trombone player. He had an effortless, flowing, extremely well controlled sound and technique. Excellent tone quality and phrasing. He obviously had superb control of the horn.

The Tijuana Brass ensemble that Herb assembled for concert performances back in the 1960s was comprised of outstanding professional players on their respective instruments.
 
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Some of my favorite Bob Edmondson phrases managed to be somewhat rare. Some of his lines on "Brasilia" were eliminated in the CD era by the use of the "dry" master to make the CDs. You can only hear them on the "wet" LPs.

Another one is his descending harmony in "Zorba The Greek" that's only heard on the mono single mix. Bob used to do that line in concert as well.
 
I for one Enjoyed Every aspect of Bob Edmondson's playing as well as his humor during their performances one stand out is when Herb asked him " How many units of whipped cream ( the album) Did we Sell and Bob's reply "Four Quarts" and I know as Herb introduced the band As 4 Lasagna's 2 Bagels and an American Cheese and Bob was that "American Cheese"
 
I love this video clip ...


We get to see Bob for a bit. :agree:


The slow tempo Tommy Dorsey ballad sound at the beginning of the video is the way the Tijuana Brass performed the song in concert in 1968, as I mentioned above. Herb opened and closed the song with some conversation with the audience while Bob Edmondson played as you hear on this video. In between, as you hear also, was the Going Places album arrangement.
 
I for one Enjoyed Every aspect of Bob Edmondson's playing as well as his humor during their performances one stand out is when Herb asked him " How many units of whipped cream ( the album) Did we Sell and Bob's reply "Four Quarts"...
I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks this, but Bob Edmondson always reminded me of Cosmo Kramer, from the TV show "Seinfeld". I thought so even before I saw this video:

 
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I always thought he looked more like an adult version of Greg Brady form "The Brady Bunch."

--Mr. Bill
 
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