TromboneChat

Hello,

I’m trying to find out who played bass trombone with the Cleveland Orchestra during the 1970s. In particular, I’d like to know who was playing bass trombone in the 1979 recording of Russian Easter Festival Overture conducted by Lorin Maazel.

Does anyone have information on this?

Ed Anderson! He was there I think something like 1964 to the mid 80's. He and Ron Bishop were an incredible pair!

Oh, thank you!!
I couldn't find any information when I searched from Japan, so this is very helpful.

Ed played a Mt. Vernon 1 1/2G for his career with The Cleveland Orchestra with a Mt. Vernon Bach 50B2, adding a 10 1/2" bell, then he moved to a Bach 50B3GL around 1979.

Happy to help- he was a total legend!

His son (and now also his grandson!) are in the orchestra back home in New Orleans. He used to come sub with them when I was in high school - really cool to get to hear him play in person. At that point (long after his time in TCO) he'd moved off the traditional Bach and had one of those wild horns that had, I think, something like a C valve on it- looked like a bird cage. Totally wild.

That instrument was a Bach with inline Thayer valves, and the second valve was in independent C. Bach made him an 11 1/2" heavy gold brass bell. He was using a no leadpipe Schilke 60CV. Quite a change from the Bach 50B2/1 1/2G. Some of his selections from The Occasional Clam are on YouTube, such as:





Ed liked the relationship of middle C/B with the F attachment down an octave. His second valve on the Mt. Vernon 50B2L had a C slide, hence F/C dependent. When he switched to the B3, Bach made him a C slide for the second valve.

Thank you for that information! Both the horn and the person playing it blew my mind when I heard them play Mahler 2 in high school. wonderful musician

I attended a master class Ed Anderson gave at the ITA in 1977. He was great, and very approachable. Super-nice gentleman. If you can, pick up a CD from the early '80s of Cleveland playing Sibelius 2, on Telarc, conducted by Yoel Levi. That's some serious bass bone honking!

The Respighi album is a great example of Ed's playing:



And the Telarc recordings.

Trombones lay it down nicely in this one.



I'm enjoying this era of recordings from Cleveland. I haven't been the biggest fan of modern Cleveland recordings ... Many I've heard have had a LOT of 1st trumpet in the blend - bit too much for my ears.

Ed thought the Telarc recordings were the most accurate. I attended the recording session for the Strauss Don Quixote recorded at the Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland on the London label. There were dozens of mics, a lot of takes and then mixing/editing before the final release. Telarc, with its simple 3 mic recording process, had the conductor balancing the orchestra as for a performance.

I was fortunate to hear the orchestra of that era many times, in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Severance Hall and at Blossom. Ed also filled in for Don Harwood at a New York Philharmonic Friday matinee for a Tchaikovsky 6 but that's another story.

JoeStanko wrote: Tue Jun 17, 2025 1:31 pm Ed also filled in for Don Harwood at a New York Philharmonic Friday matinee for a Tchaikovsky 6 but that's another story.

Can't really leave us hangin like this.

JoeStanko wrote: Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:05 am That instrument was a Bach with inline Thayer valves, and the second valve was in independent C. Bach made him an 11 1/2" heavy gold brass bell. He was using a no leadpipe Schilke 60CV. Quite a change from the Bach 50B2/1 1/2G. Some of his selections from The Occasional Clam are on YouTube, such as:





Ed liked the relationship of middle C/B with the F attachment down an octave. His second valve on the Mt. Vernon 50B2L had a C slide, hence F/C dependent. When he switched to the B3, Bach made him a C slide for the second valve.

I am eally surprized that he used a Schilke 60CV.. I read in an interview in a ITA journal that he wanted a less dark sound than Kleinhammer in Chicago, thus stayed on the MV 1 1/2 G.. But he may have been lured over to the dark side in the ninetees.. It seems that everybody went dark back then..

I met him at a summer festival in the 1980s. The nicest person, and a remarkable sound.

I'm amazed that he could hold up that enormous amount of metal without hurting himself.

I found my 1984 book about the Cleveland Orchestra members. I couldn't scan it, so please accept the photos instead.

I have the same book. The first recording with the B3 was the Prokofiev 5. I was fortunate to buy his Mt. Vernon 50B2 - it’s the first one Bach made, and the 10 1/2” flare was discovered after the relocation to Elkhart. Ed had that flare installed at Bach after having joined the Cleveland Orchestra.

Joe, I studied with DeSano and Kofsky. Never had the pleasure of meeting Anderson.