Wes Jacobs, Tuba, & The Carpenters


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Posted by Steve Marcus on January 29, 2004 at 02:10:01:

About 13 minutes into "The Karen Carpenter Story," a program on BBC Radio 2, the announcer talks about the Richard Carpenter Trio making a recording in 1967 called "Iced Tea." Richard played piano (Liberace style), Karen played drums, and...Wesley Jacobs, currently the tubist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, played a very hot tuba. On this particular track on the documentary, you can hear Wes play a passage that ranges from pedal CC up to c2 (c above middle c on the piano).

The announcer mentions that the producers at RCA felt that the sound of the tuba would be "big." They didn't want to hear Karen sing--just instrumentals. It wasn't until Herb Alpert of A&M Records heard one of their tapes in 1969 that the world was exposed to the "Sound of the Carpenters" that is so easily recognized today. By then, Wes and his tuba were gone.



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