Review

Jim Hopson
Meat Salad:
Unaccompanied tenor trombone

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - unaccompanied

According to his website, Jim Hopson is a Vancouver-based composer whose multi-instrumentalist skills include trombone. Meat Salad was composed for Ilan Morgenstern, bass trombonist of the Vancouver Symphony. This piece is the tenor trombone version, created after the original. A performance video of this piece, by Morgenstern on bass trombone, can be found on Youtube. Interestingly, the Morgenstern video includes the composer playing a (mostly) steady beat on cowbell. This is an effective addition even if this review score makes no mention of that.

This is an unapologetic funk-based piece inspired by the likes of Fred Wesley and Bootsy Collins. It reminds me of such pieces as Rock by Alan Raph, Trombone Institute of Technology by Michael Davis or 747 from the Pugh Taylor Project (at least the fast section). It ranges from BB-flat to c² and does  not shy away from fast leaps down to that pedal BB-flat! In terms of endurance demands, it doesn’t linger on the highest notes but rather uses them as jumping off points mostly for descending leaping figures.

This piece makes demands on agility including octave leaps in 16th notes at a tempo of quarter=110. The music is filled with 16th-note syncopations in a funk style and uses turns across the grain. It will test the facility of the strongest performers but can be an effective style change to include on a recital program. If you’re in the market for a fun piece to show off your versatility, this is worth a look.