Dick Titterington
I met Dick Titterington at an event I was working at in Portland a couple 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 had turned toward the curtain, and so away from the other musicians who were still setting up, doing their own thing… It was a sudden and loud intro… It was as if somebody snuck up behind me and started blasting a trumpet up my ass.
Next… wait, is that a frenchhor… NO, it’s a flugelhorn! Yes… He is just practicing scales and gibber- jabbering with his band mates, 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 again, not so intimately…
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 likely more than 50 times in the following couple of months. The music there is beautiful and dense with a “very literate jazz- vibe” I had to “crack” it. …With my relative musical illiteracy in context, this record passes the “magical experience” test, by having me perfectly enamored by something that I do not/ 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 some minimal direction from me, his approach in improvising on my work was super- easy and conversational. In this process I got to observe some of his depth- of- knowledge of style and approach, as he would briefly verbalize ideas, ask me a question or two, and make quick decisions about what to play. From moment to moment, he seemed to have 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 ike this...?” I would mostly only interrupt occasionally to ask him to switch horns…
I’ve never worked with such a professional before or known any trained artist with a better handle on the scope of creative possibilities within their art.
Dick 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, Bob Newhart. Broadway shows - Cats, Book of Mormon, Westside Story, The Producers, Beautiful, Wicked, Chicago, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Recordings as leader - “Amber Eyes”, “PDXV Volumes 1 & 2”, “Yellow Dance”, “Threnody”, “Salt Mines”, “Live At The 1905”.