In February 2019 University of South Carolina trombone professor Dr. Michael Wilkinson and I realized a long discussed plan to present a recital in which the two of us perform on a variety of low brass instruments. That first performance in Columbia was very successful, and we immediately began making plans to continue the collaboration this year. Over the course of our discussions, we began to—jokingly, at first—use the name “Insanity Brass Duo” to describe the program. It seems apt, since in the current iteration we are each playing seven different instruments over the course of an hour.

Our first performance was funded through the Southeastern Conference Faculty Travel Program, and we applied for and received funding for this year’s efforts through them, as well. This year we performed on Tuesday, January 21, at the University of Mississippi, and on Thursday, January 23, at the University of Alabama. Both programs were preceded by lectures on the day before. Dr. Wilkinson spoke to my students at Ole Miss about improvisation on Monday, January 20, and we spoke together about doubling to Dr. Jonathan Whitaker’s students at the University of Alabama on Wednesday, January 22. It was a very successful week, and I am happy to share the performance videos from the week here.

Sadly, these recordings are not without problems. There were difficulties in the booth during the first performance, so the audio quality of the recordings from the University of Mississippi is not what it should be. The video quality from the University of Alabama could also be better. I wish it were possible to take the sound from one and the picture from the other! Still, I am happy to share these performances here, and hope that you enjoy them despite these difficulties.

Canonic Sonata No. 3 (Telemann/Everett)
Everett—alto trombone
Wilkinson—alto trombone

Sonata No. 3 in A minor (Marcello)
Everett—tenor trombone
Wilkinson—bass trombone

Preludes 10, 15, 16, 24 (Shostakovich/Yeo)
Everett—tenor trombone (10, 15); bass trombone (16, 24)
Wilkinson—bass trombone (10, 15); tenor trombone (16, 24)

Slide and the Family Bone (Davis)
Everett—bass trombone
Wilkinson—tenor trombone

Trombone Institute of Technology (Davis)
Everett—tenor trombone
Wilkinson—bass trombone

Lokk from the Green Island (Aagaard-Nilsen)
Everett—euphonium
Wilkinson—euphonium

Duo Divertimento No. 2 (Deddos)
Everett—baritone horn
Wilkinson—cimbasso

Duba Dance (Verhelst)
Everett—tuba
Wilkinson—euphonium

The Walrus Ordered Waffles (Pederson)
Everett—bass trombone
Wilkinson—contrabass trombone

Don’t Be Absurd (Wilkinson)
Everett—tuba
Wilkinson—contrabass trombone
Ricky Burkhead—drums (Ole Miss performance only)

To conclude with a bit of shameless commerce, let me remind everyone that my book The Low Brass Player’s Guide to Doubling is still available from Mountain Peak Music. There you will find a thorough and systematic approach to performing on multiple low brass instruments. Not only have I approached doubling in this way for years, but I actually added the tuba double after writing the book, following the methodology presented there. It works!