Review

Luther Fisher and Martin Sperzel
Trombone Sam:

Arranged by Harry Stanton


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Publisher: Wehr's Music House
Date of Publication: 2007
URL: http://www.wehrs-music-house.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

When he starts a pumpin’ with all his might 
Hear the crowd a shoutin’
“He’s the goods alright”
 
Though some of the original lyrics to the 1914 rag, He’s my Lovin Trombone Sam, are humorous, with the cover art and some of the lyrics correctly placing them within the modern standard of being racist, the original music itself does not make it one of the better rags in the repertoire, which limit the quality and value of this transcription. However, this rag, like most, is fun to play and hear. Brass quintets will not go wrong by adding this to their repertoire, especially at $5.50. 

Coming in under two minutes, and that’s at the prescribed tempo of half note = 72, which seems a bit slow, Trombone Sam is, at first glance, a relatively easy rag for a quintet to conquer. However, as with all rags, there is a certain amount of effort that must go into making sure that everybody is playing with the same interpretation - rhythm, note length, accents, etc. That is even more so the case with this transcription, as there are occasional inconsistent articulation markings. The quintet playing this transcription will need to be able to communicate effectively in order to create a unified approach. 

-Casey Thomas
Iowa City, IA