Summer’s over (but the Houston heat is not!), the kids are back in school, time to get into some regular routines. I have started teaching trombone at University of Houston this fall, something I’ve really been looking forward too. I’m sharing this position with Brad White and Brian Kauk, and there are a lot of students, almost thirty in the trombone choir!
When I moved to Houston I started getting mysterious calls for bass gigs. Ok, I know how to get around on an electric bass, but this was different, until I realized people were trying to get Thomas Helton, the bass player! To complicate things further, he’s also a decent trombone player, and is listed right above me in the Musician’s Union book! The first gig we played together, I was playing tuba, and he was playing trombone, and yes, we do look like brothers!
We’ve been playing a lot together over the years, and if you wanna check it out, come to Houston’s premier jazz venue Cezanne on Septmber the 5th and listen to us pay tribute to the famous Gerry Mulligan Quartet.
We will also perform Thomas’s transcriptions from Miles Davis’s “Birth of the Cool” on September 27 at the Kemah Jazz Festival.
Thomas is a great musician, always checking out new things, and yes, he has been to Sweden and played with Tim Hagans and the Norrbotten Big Band. Check out his web-site www.thomashelton.com. Just make sure to spell the last name right, or you risking getting to a certain tromboneplayer’s web-site!
