TromboneChat

Every now and then I listen to some of John Rojak's recordings.

His CD The Romantic Bass Trombone was (one of) my first bass trombone CDs and I still love many of the tracks. Especially the Lebedev. Also his playing on the CD with Ewazen pieces really stands out to me.

Somehow he just has a musicality to his playing and something special in his sound that I always loved.

Do you know if he has published any method books or etudes?

I don't think John has written any method books, but I agree with you. John was a friend and colleague in school - the bass trombonist that I played the most with during those years. He was always a solid and tasteful player, and he has built a great and varied career in NYC. There are some great American Brass Quintet clips on YouTube where he makes a real case for the use of a Bass Trombone as the bottom voice of a Brass Quintet. Great player who deserves some more recognition!

Jim Scott

The ABQ came to the University of Maryland a year or two ago so I got to see them live. Been listening to their albums for decades now especially since they use bass trombone on the bottom. His playing is so effortless. He makes playing bass trombone in a quintet look, and sound, SO EASY! I believe this is before they announced Hilary and Brandon as permanent members.

What a great sound, I have been fortunate to hear it in person twice.

The first was on a high school band trip to NYC in the late 90's where we went to see Les Mis and the other was in 2015 when I went to see The Cleveland Orchestra do Tchaikovsky 5 and he was subbing on bass trombone.