How to go
What: Mike Teckenbrock and Brian Cashwell Jazz Duo
When: 7-10 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22
Where: Spinoza's, 2727 Fairfield Commons Blvd., Beavercreek. In the Mall at Fairfield Commons near Sears
Cost: Free
More information: www.spinozas. com or (937) 426-7799
The flugelhorn is not a very well known instrument, but those that are familiar with the instrument often have a deep love for it’s special sound.
Flugelhorns are basically trumpets with wider, more cone-shaped tubing; the result is a darker, more mellow and velvety sound than a trumpet. Most trumpet players play flugelhorn as a secondary instrument, but some jazz musicians — including local player Mike Teckenbrock — have made flugel their primary instrument.
“I’m a flugelhorn player, mainly,” Teckenbrock said. “I like to play trumpet, but I just don’t like the sound as much. Flugel is my voice; it’s what I identify with and it’s closer to what I strive for musically.”
Anyone who hears Teckenbrock play will know what he means by that. A melodic, expressive player, Teckenbrock doesn’t go for the flashy, pyrotechnic style of playing—high, loud, and fast—that many trumpet players like.
“Lyricism is priority number one, playing the little tunes in your head,” he said. “The tone is also very important—the timbre of your instrument—so I work on that a lot. Someone once said, ‘The world has a lot of notes but not enough music.’ So, I try to play music.”
As a youngster in Vandalia, Teckenbrock said he was unusual because he gravitated toward jazz music rather than the more popular music of the day. Although he enjoyed music, he wasn’t very keen on practicing studies from his lesson books. He said he used to “make things up” when he played at home to fool his mother into believing he was practicing.
“I read this book on jazz, and it was talking about improvisation ... I read that and said, ‘Hey, that’s what I’ve been doing already!’ so it was appealing.”
Teckenbrock remembers his first jazz record, a Carnegie Hall concert given by Miles Davis. He listened to that over and over, then started finding more and more records. A self-motivated student, he would find the records of the sidemen that he liked and just kept feeding himself jazz throughout his teenage years.
After a year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Teckenbrock came back to the Dayton area and put his horns away for many years. Various responsibilities of life demanded his focus, and music faded into the background for more than 20 years.
“I didn’t seriously pick it up again until the late 1990s,” Teckenbrock said. “I met (pianist) Jeff Hufnagle, and he was a big influence and he got me back into playing.”
It was a struggle for Teckenbrock to regain his trumpet and flugelhorn skills, but the area is certainly better for it. His rich, foggy tone and lilting improvisations can be heard from time to time, like this Tuesday, Dec. 22, at Spinoza’s with pianist Brian Cashwell.
“ ‘I just want to play pretty for the people.’ Thelonius Monk said that,” Teckenbrock remarked. “That’s kind of the approach that I take.”
Matt Warner is a contributing writer for the Dayton Daily News. He can be reached by e-mail at warner.matt@mac.com. Jazzbeat appears Sundays.
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