Richard Titterington
I met Richard at an event I was working at in Portland a few of years ago, after I heard him sound- checking with his band. He had been unaware that I was so close in proximity, working just behind a very thin, black stage curtain. I believe he must have turned toward the curtain away from the other musicians who were still setting up… It was a sudden and loud intro… as if somebody snuck up behind me and started blasting a trumpet up my ass.
Next… a flugelhorn! …He was warming up, running through scales but I was getting emotional listening… Next, was piccolo trumpet. I’d heard this brilliant sound in an orchestra or at a Christmas concert before, but never so close…
An hour or so later he happened to sit next to me where I was working and we talked. He gave me a CD of his ‘3 Trumpet Band: Salt Mines’ album, which I listened to probably more than 50 times in the following couple of months. The music there is beautiful and dense with a very literate jazz- vibe that I had to crack. This record passes the magic/ art experience- test by having me perfectly enamored by something that I cannot fully understand...
It took me over a year to get the nerve to ask Dick if he would work with me. With my request he subjected me to some lighthearted, musical hazing, but in the end he was game!
He brought over all four of his horns: trumpet, piccolo trumpet, coronet and flugelhorn. With minimal direction from me his approach in improvising on my work was super- easy and conversational. He would briefly verbalize ideas, ask me a question or two, and make quick decisions about what to play. From moment to moment, he had a wide set of options to offer, on a song, or song- part. He would ask “…Do you want me play like this? …Or I could do more like like this...?” I would mostly only interrupt occasionally to ask him to switch horns…
Richard is a composer, arranger and an established, active, freelance trumpeter in the Pacific Northwest. His credits include work with Father John Misty, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Franky Valli, The Smothers Brothers, Don Rickles and Bob Newhart. His work on Broadway includes Cats, Book of Mormon, Westside Story, The Producers, Beautiful, Wicked, Chicago and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
His recordings as band leader include “Amber Eyes”, “PDXV Volumes 1 & 2”, “Yellow Dance”, “Threnody”, “Salt Mines”, “Live At The 1905”.