Gil Johnson


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Posted by MG on September 15, 2002 at 18:45:53:

Gilbert D. Johnson, trumpeter

By Peter Dobrin
Philadelphia Inquirer Music Critic
Posted on Wed, Sep. 11, 2002


Gilbert D. Johnson, 74, the Philadelphia Orchestra's Grammy-winning
trumpeter whose pearly tones changed expectations of how mellow a
trumpet could go, died Sunday in Miami of kidney cancer.

Mr. Johnson was the orchestra's principal trumpeter under Eugene Ormandy
from 1959 to 1975 - a period of unparalleled recording and broadcast
prominence for the orchestra, making his refined sound unusually
influential. He also coached several generations of brass students at
the University of Miami, where he taught from 1975 until his death, as
well as at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1969 to 1975, and Temple
University and the Settlement Music School.

"He was my image of what an orchestral trumpeter should sound like,"
said Roger Blackburn, a Philadelphia Orchestra trumpet player who
studied with Johnson. "It was more lyrical than some of the other
principal trumpeters of the time. He tended to bring more vibrato to his
playing, which made it more of a singing style. We've come back to that
timbre and his school of playing."

"Gil was very special," said Abe Torchinsky, a Philadelphia Orchestra
tuba player from 1949 to 1972.

Thin and handsome, with an impish glint in his eye, Mr. Johnson was a
quick wit.

"When Ormandy was conductor, we used to record like hotcakes, and
sometimes someone would miss a note, and Ormandy would just let it go,"
Torchinsky said. "So Gil got wise, and when something started going
wrong, he would start blowing noises so they would have to do the
recording again."

Born in Turlock, Calif., Mr. Johnson began his career as principal
trumpeter of the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, performed with the Boston
Pops, and then played with the New Orleans Symphony from 1952 until
1958. He graduated from the Hartt School of Music and earned a diploma
from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1950.

His orchestral recordings under Ormandy earned him admiration mostly
from insiders who knew the man behind rock-solid Sibelius or sinewy
Gershwin solos.

"He had a terrific sense of balance," said Mason Jones, the former
Philadelphia Orchestra hornist and personnel manager. "When he had to
lead, he did so with great determination and correctness, but when he
had to accompany, he was like a woodwind player."

But it was in his chamber music that he won wider recognition. The
Philadelphia Brass Ensemble's recording of Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli
(with the Cleveland and Chicago Brass) won a 1969 Grammy for best
classical music record, and the Hindemith brass sonatas with pianist
Glenn Gould remain on shelves today as some of the finest made.

Mr. Johnson also played and arranged jazz and was known to sit down at
the piano and play standards.

His students landed chairs with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas
Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and other groups. One of Mr. Johnson's
trumpets is played today by Blackburn, who had it engraved with Mr.
Johnson's name.

Johnson is survived by his twin daughters, Sharon Johnson and Susan
Tarbe; two sisters; and six grandchildren. His wife of 41 years, Myra,
died in 1998.



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