Classic Tull

Fisher Tull has long been one of my favorite composers to play. Like many composers there are what I would call dead giveaways in their writing that instantly identify them, Fisher Tull is no different.....mostly. What I find interesting is that his Quintets mostly don't bear the same chromatic and technical 'licks' that a lot of his other works do. I am not sure exactly how important that is, but it definitely gives his work some more depth (or at least I think so!). The work we are going to discuss today however, is 'classic' Fisher Tull. There are themes and ideas he has used in other works, for example, the trumpet opening in the third movement bears resemblance to the opening of Tull's Three Bagatelles for trumpet.

A little about Fisher Tull: He was an American trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He studied with legendary trumpet pedagogue John Haynie at the University of North Texas, and with composer Sam Adler. According to his biography he did a lot of arranging for jazz ensembles, which I think is apparent in his writing as there is a lot of jazz influence.

For todays listening I want to focus on Exhibition for brass quintet (1961). I have included links below to all six movements as performed by the Custom Brass Quintet. Aside from the first movement, all of the other ones open with either solo tuba, trumpet, or trombone. I really like how Tull cycles through these different sort of dance aesthetics, and how he seems to blend older styles and tonalities, with more modern elements including hints of atonality. There also appear (weather intentional or not) to be elements of other quintets mixed throughout this one. See if you can pick any of these up during your listen.

Enjoy!