Which famous people play trombone on the side?

DakoJack · by **DakoJack** » 2020-07-09 12:20 p.m.

New Pod out about some famous people who play the trombone on the side or in pop culture. Who are some famous people you know of who also play trombone?

~~[url]~~<LINK_TEXT text="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1169810/4497 ... GmyuBXRSWs">https://www.buzzsprout.com/1169810/4497170?fbclid=IwAR3oK6CNwLI6373cKe_xogRRNsaT8AMZRt3NCPe1UkjKhniVYGmyuBXRSWs</LINK_TEXT>

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2020-07-09 2:26 p.m.

We had a topic like this on the old TTF (sadly, it's not in our archive).

I haven't had a chance to check out your podcast, but I'm sure you included Jonathan Frakes (played Lt. Riker on Star Trek) who occasionally blew a few notes in an episode or had his part covered by Bill Watrous. Someone you probably never heard of because you are too young was TV personality Hugh Downs. Composers Henry Fillmore and Gustav Holst.

Maybe later I'll get a chance to listen to your podcast (the intro turned me off -- sorry).

ArbanRubank · by **ArbanRubank** » 2020-07-09 2:44 p.m.

Ward Kimball.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Kimball

Finetales · by **Finetales** » 2020-07-09 2:58 p.m.

[quote="BGuttman"]Composers Henry Fillmore and Gustav Holst.[/quote]

Elgar too, but he was notoriously bad at it!

DakoJack · by **DakoJack** » 2020-07-09 3:04 p.m.

[quote="BGuttman"]We had a topic like this on the old TTF (sadly, it's not in our archive).

I haven't had a chance to check out your podcast, but I'm sure you included Jonathan Frakes (played Lt. Riker on Star Trek) who occasionally blew a few notes in an episode or had his part covered by Bill Watrous. Someone you probably never heard of because you are too young was TV personality Hugh Downs. Composers Henry Fillmore and Gustav Holst.

Maybe later I'll get a chance to listen to your podcast (the intro turned me off -- sorry).[/quote]
Ya not familiar with Hugh Downs I'll check him out. And ya I put Frakes in there I didn't know till I did this that when ever he sounds super good its BIll Watrous playing. Just out of curiosity what turned you off about the intro was it the music or our introduction?

JohnL · by **JohnL** » 2020-07-09 3:07 p.m.

~~[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Janis]~~Conrad Janis, longtime character actor most remembered for playing Mindy's father on Mork and Mindy.

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2020-07-09 3:40 p.m.

[quote="DakoJack"]...

Ya not familiar with Hugh Downs I'll check him out. And ya I put Frakes in there I didn't know till I did this that when ever he sounds super good its BIll Watrous playing. Just out of curiosity what turned you off about the intro was it the music or our introduction?[/quote]

I'm not into notey solos. Sorry.

Fridge · by **Fridge** » 2020-07-09 4:33 p.m.

Andy Griffith. Used to play in Jeff Reynold’s Moravian Trombone choir.

Fridge

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2020-07-09 5:16 p.m.

The actor Jimmy Stewart told a funny story.

He played Glenn Miller in "The Glenn Miller Story". In order to make the trombone playing scenes look better he took 6 months of trombone lessons. In the end they actually welded a quarter into the mouthpiece because whenever he actually played it was awful :tongue:

Kdanielsen · by **Kdanielsen** » 2020-07-09 5:22 p.m.

I think hugh laurie (Dr. House) played the trombone a million years ago.

Geordie · by **Geordie** » 2020-07-09 5:53 p.m.

Richard Wright a founding member, keyboardist, and vocalist in Pink Floyd, according to a large Pink Floyd exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum I attended in 2017.

jacobgarchik · by **jacobgarchik** » 2020-07-25 4:41 p.m.

Made a list long ago.

<LINK_TEXT text="https://web.archive.org/web/20081227223 ... amous.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20081227223004/http://jacobgarchik.com/famous.html</LINK_TEXT>

Doug_Elliott · by **Doug_Elliott** » 2020-07-25 5:05 p.m.

I don't think mentioned yet:

Austin Watson (born September 4, 1986), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Xavier Woods.

I happened to see him while flipping through channels... In the ring with a P-Bone.

PhilTrombone · by **PhilTrombone** » 2020-07-25 5:12 p.m.

Cindi Lauper

Kbiggs · by **Kbiggs** » 2020-07-25 7:05 p.m.

[quote="Kdanielsen"]I think hugh laurie (Dr. House) played the trombone a million years ago.[/quote]

He “played” the trombone in a couple of episodes of the Jeeves and Wooster series on BBC. If you look closely, however, it looks like he’s playing on a trumpet or an alto horn size mouthpiece. I’m not sure that REALLY counts as playing the trombone... :clever:

BrianJohnston · by **BrianJohnston** » 2020-10-03 6:03 p.m.

[quote="Kbiggs"]<QUOTE author="Kdanielsen" post_id="119397" time="1594329764" user_id="7231">
I think hugh laurie (Dr. House) played the trombone a million years ago.[/quote]

He “played” the trombone in a couple of episodes of the Jeeves and Wooster series on BBC. If you look closely, however, it looks like he’s playing on a trumpet or an alto horn size mouthpiece. I’m not sure that REALLY counts as playing the trombone... :clever:
</QUOTE>

That's funny because I can picture him playing it without ever seeing those episodes.

CalgaryTbone · by **CalgaryTbone** » 2020-10-03 9:51 p.m.

[quote="JohnL"]~~[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Janis]~~Conrad Janis, longtime character actor most remembered for playing Mindy's father on Mork and Mindy.[/quote]

When I was a student in NYC, I was at Giardinelli's one day, trying some horns or mouthpieces. Conrad was in the next try-out room. He came by to say hi - very nice guy! I was a fan of the show, and it was on the air in those days.

He was definitely a "Dixieland" player - lot's of sizzle in his sound, coming through the walls of those small try-out rooms!

Jim Scott

olivegreenink · by **olivegreenink** » 2020-10-03 11:09 p.m.

[quote="Kbiggs"]<QUOTE author="Kdanielsen" post_id="119397" time="1594329764" user_id="7231">
I think hugh laurie (Dr. House) played the trombone a million years ago.[/quote]

He “played” the trombone in a couple of episodes of the Jeeves and Wooster series on BBC. If you look closely, however, it looks like he’s playing on a trumpet or an alto horn size mouthpiece. I’m not sure that REALLY counts as playing the trombone... :clever:
</QUOTE>

An amazing true musician in any event. His two albums are two of my favorites. Especially his St. James Infirmary - pulls off one of the slowest tempos/build-ups on that I have heard.

Cheers

StephenK · 2020-10-04 11:09 a.m.

John Suchet in UK, he was a prime time news anchor and journalist, and has a a long running radio programme on UK national radio, as well as authoring several books about musicians. ( And brother of David Suchet of Poirot fame)

King2bPlus · by **King2bPlus** » 2020-10-04 9:25 p.m.

Jerry Colonna started his career as a bone player.

~~[url]~~<LINK_TEXT text="https://www.discogs.com/release/8307308 ... Way/images">https://www.discogs.com/release/8307308-Jerry-Colonna-Plays-Trombone-Along-The-Dixieland-Hi-Fi-Way/images</LINK_TEXT>

olivegreenink · by **olivegreenink** » 2020-10-05 7:07 a.m.

Quasi- related Jonathan Frakes update:

<TWITTER id="1312844585748574208"><LINK_TEXT text="https://twitter.com/comicbooknow/status ... 74208?s=21">https://twitter.com/comicbooknow/status/1312844585748574208?s=21</LINK_TEXT></TWITTER>

Cheers

bellend · by **bellend** » 2020-10-06 8:01 a.m.

[quote="CalgaryTbone"]<QUOTE author="JohnL" post_id="119379" time="1594321629" user_id="119">
~~[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Janis]~~Conrad Janis, longtime character actor most remembered for playing Mindy's father on Mork and Mindy.[/quote]

When I was a student in NYC, I was at Giardinelli's one day, trying some horns or mouthpieces. Conrad was in the next try-out room. He came by to say hi - very nice guy! I was a fan of the show, and it was on the air in those days.

He was definitely a "Dixieland" player - lot's of sizzle in his sound, coming through the walls of those small try-out rooms!

Jim Scott
</QUOTE>

I met Conrad when I was depping on the QE2 a million years ago and would second what a nice guy he was :good:

Also , yes deffo a Dixie type player, Conn 6H/5H from memory.

BellEnd

imsevimse · by **imsevimse** » 2024-06-08 5:29 a.m.

1983 the Swedish King got a trombone and obviously played it once. Ugly grip and left handed. I wonder what teacher he had :mrgreen:

/Tom

mgladdish · by **mgladdish** » 2024-06-09 5:06 a.m.

John McDonnell, one-time shadow chancellor of the exchequer, is a (wannabe?) trombonist. You'd often see one on its stand in the background when he was doing tv news interviews. I haven't heard his playing though.

<LINK_TEXT text="https://www.4barsrest.com/news/53357/in ... donnell-mp">https://www.4barsrest.com/news/53357/interview-with-john-mcdonnell-mp</LINK_TEXT>

fsgazda · by **fsgazda** » 2024-06-09 9:54 a.m.

[quote="olivegreenink"]Quasi- related Jonathan Frakes update:

<TWITTER id="1312844585748574208"><LINK_TEXT text="https://twitter.com/comicbooknow/status ... 74208?s=21">https://twitter.com/comicbooknow/status/1312844585748574208?s=21</LINK_TEXT></TWITTER>

Cheers[/quote]

Frakes didn't direct it, but they did do a musical episode of "Strange New Worlds" titled "Subspace Rhapsody".

AndrewMeronek · by **AndrewMeronek** » 2024-06-09 10:34 a.m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Pearce

I honestly don't know anything about this guy but if he got inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame, that does imply some amount of being famous for non-trombone reasons.

MrHCinDE · by **MrHCinDE** » 2024-06-10 1:19 a.m.

I heard about a first class professional cricketer from Merseyside who played trombone, initially on the side. There was some sort of falling out at the cricket club and he was basically blacklisted as a cricketer and went on to have success as a full time trombonist. Can‘t for the life of me remember his name.

Doug_Elliott · by **Doug_Elliott** » 2024-06-10 1:55 a.m.

Conrad Janis, actor

Xavier Woods, wrestler

Not trombone, but the King of Thailand for 70 years, Bhumibol Adulyadej, played saxophone.

harrisonreed · by **harrisonreed** » 2024-06-10 8:32 a.m.

[quote="MrHCinDE"]I heard about a first class professional cricketer from Merseyside who played trombone, initially on the side. There was some sort of falling out at the cricket club and he was basically blacklisted as a cricketer and went on to have success as a full time trombonist. Can‘t for the life of me remember his name.[/quote]

When you said "on the side" I imagined him waiting to go up to bat (in the dugout, or whatever it's called in cricket), just blasting inane tunes on his trombone.

A great reason for him to be banned!

Posaunus · by **Posaunus** » 2024-06-10 12:31 p.m.

Oh, "on the side" doesn't mean playing the trombone sideways (like a flute)!

I was having a hard time imagining the mouthpiece for that style of playing. :horror:

MrHCinDE · by **MrHCinDE** » 2024-06-10 12:38 p.m.

[quote="harrisonreed"]

When you said "on the side" I imagined him waiting to go up to bat (in the dugout, or whatever it's called in cricket), just blasting inane tunes on his trombone.

A great reason for him to be banned![/quote]

Might have woken up the members from a tea and sausage roll induced coma.

MrHCinDE · by **MrHCinDE** » 2024-06-10 12:39 p.m.

[quote="Posaunus"]Oh, "on the side" doesn't mean playing the trombone sideways (like a flute)!

I was having a hard time imagining the mouthpiece for that style of playing. :horror:[/quote]

That could be a new innovation for marching band, you might be on to something.

BGuttman · by **BGuttman** » 2024-06-10 1:02 p.m.

[quote="MrHCinDE"]<QUOTE author="Posaunus" post_id="244917" time="1718037097" user_id="158">
Oh, "on the side" doesn't mean playing the trombone sideways (like a flute)!

I was having a hard time imagining the mouthpiece for that style of playing. :horror:[/quote]

That could be a new innovation for marching band, you might be on to something.
</QUOTE>

That would be a good use for the bassoon reed/bocal setup (tromboon). The bocal makes a 90° angle anyway. :)

Posaunus · by **Posaunus** » 2024-06-10 3:56 p.m.

[quote="MrHCinDE"]<QUOTE author="Posaunus" post_id="244917" time="1718037097" user_id="158">
Oh, "on the side" doesn't mean playing the trombone sideways (like a flute)!

I was having a hard time imagining the mouthpiece for that style of playing. :horror:[/quote]
That could be a new innovation for marching band, you might be on to something.
</QUOTE>
[quote="BGuttman"]That would be a good use for the bassoon reed/bocal setup (tromboon). The bocal makes a 90° angle anyway. :)[/quote]

R.I.P., Peter Schickele! :frown:

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Which famous people play trombone on the side?