We finally left 2020, a year of pandemic, fires, hurricanes, election upheaval and great difficulty for gigging trumpeters. We will still experience many of these problems going forward but hopefully less.

2020 did bring some good things. I learned quite a lot about trumpet repertoire, when I created a database of trumpet literature during the summer. In addition, we were all blessed by incredible recordings by amazing trumpeters, who had a lot of time on their hands. I was fortunate to play several concerts in 2020: outdoors and socially distanced. Perhaps the most special thing for me was getting elected as Vice President of the Historic Brass Society, which I have loved since the late 1980s. In one year, I will automatically become the President of the HBS, and will have to make do without the help of the amazing Jeff Nussbaum, who has been the president for decades. We will all miss his wisdom and hard work in the early brass community.

I did make a resolution for the new year: to blog every day on this site. One other thing you might notice is that the “This Day in History” widget has been re-activated and will be updated every day. Today, you will notice many interesting trumpeters mentioned, including Harry Glantz, Bengt Eklund and Edwin Franko Goldman.

Harry Glantz, famous trumpet soloist and orchestral player, was born on this day in 1896. He was one of the main teachers of Bernard Adelstein, who was one of my main teachers.