Henry Mancini & Bill Watrous, 'Too Little Time'

The American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist Henry Mancini (1924-1994) and his Orchestra perform "Too Little Time", love theme from the movie 'The Glenn Miller Story' (1954). On the trombone, the great Bill Watrous (1939-2018).

[@JamesBlazen]

Bill was the best and also a great teacher.

[@JazzIsKing]

Wow. High B natural in 4th position. Beautiful playing.

[@luigianguiani]

D natural in 4th position.

[@MrJazzologist1]

This one from a music scene that had depth, sensitivity, nostalgia and beauty all rolled up into a wonderful bundle of feelings.

[@robdykes3659]

Do you know what the music is called from the Clint Eastwood movie heartbreak ridge were he is dancing with Marsha mason and the trombone is playing in the background cheers

[@m.j.mcilroy5470]

Watrous had(has) the most beautiful tone of all! Beautiful!

[@ShawnWilliams1987]

In loving memory of Bill Watrous

[@peterhogarty5741]

What an incredible sound, everlasting

[@mfdphoto1801]

Thank you for posting this. Bill Watrous with Mancini...it doesn't get much better than that. Ah, "the go ole days of good music."

[@songsorensen4668]

MFDPHOTO1 Sue Raney

[@edwardmallon8679]

Absolutely beautiful

[@nanzalak7988]

A very haunting and beautiful love theme. The beautiful vocal by Steve Lawrence was one of his best recordings ..

[@EricLehner]

Nanzalak Thank you for the tip. I will check it out!

[@mariettasatifka8371]

My Henry

[@rjb1122]

Great.

[@paolopriolo7045]

From 1:35 look at the black guy's face on the background: "Oh God, I love what he's playing". Marvellous

[@pauletheridge2412]

That is Al Aarons. Fantastic trumpet player. Check out Capp/Pierce Juggernaut Avenue C on YT.

[@philosophicallyspeaking6463]

Mr. Watrous must be very talented in practice of the job, because the forums that employ him require it. But, I would like to comment on why I think people are so much enamored with his playing, and in particular his treatment of ballads. Bill is a very important trombonist, but not I think for the reasons most often proposed. The goal of this tome is to encourage more trombonists to explore the techniques, methods, and practices of effective ballad playing, without using virtuosic enterprise, or rather the lack there of, as an an excuse for failing with ballads. Bill shows the way, and we would do just tribute to him by reasoning our way to better practice. I propose that Its not that Bill is particularly good at playing ballads, as many of you suggest, but only that the ‘others’ are so bad. On some level, listeners recognize this and are drawn to Bill’s…lack of ‘badness’ as the lessor of evils. Bill ballads communicate the innate and unmarred potential of melody, which is a powerful thing. Humility in the face of great melodies is therefore Bill’s great strength, and therefore too his strength as a balladeer. But, Bill’s null or neutral presentation ‘is’ only the necessary ‘first’ step towards playing a ballad 'well', because in the end, there is no value-added by his performances, even though we do meet the song on honest terms. Granted, there is something dreamlike about Bills flat approach, but, amongst other things, I find his practice of purposefully negating the phrase by playing through its natural resolution without honoring it with a breath…disrespectful and unmusical; if however impressive. Even singers breath and Bill claims to channel their vice & voice! I personally am grateful to Bill. Hearing Bill play a ballad always causes me to take it up myself, because I wonder, ‘What might a capable 'stylist' do with it?’ It is just because the trombone has greater lyric potential than any other instrument, that bad taste is so often the undoing of trombonists shy of technique and virtuosic alike. By lyric potential, I mean the access to additional articulations, transitions, and approaches that are both necessitated by the slide, and ironically made possible only by the slide. Sadly, most trombonists spend the formative training trying to negate the potential of the slide rather than realize it. Sadly, again, most trombonists who attempt ‘style’ make a mess of it for ‘trying’. Style should be a natural outgrowth of emotional context, not bad acting. Poor ballad players impose themselves onto the music so deliberately that they invariably succeed at the expense of the music for crippling the melody's authority. ‘All’ melodies are fragile. If the melody might have been improved by the insertion of another note, a composer talented enough to have generated it would have added it. Performers would do well to remember what real gift they bring to the equation, and resist the obligation of the ego to meddle in composition by means of 'gross' nuance. Performers of all types are not, as a rule, talented melodists, and should leave the melodies of those who 'are' alone. But if that’s the case, what is style, and how might a performer improve a melody without adding notes. Bill’s ‘stem’ cell presentation of a melody is a good place to start and we all realize it. But its just a start! To play a Ballad well, a performer must keep out of the way of the notes, because it is the ‘particular’ arrangement of notes into an evocative sequence that creates the unique melodic statement. One should not tamper with someone else’s creation unless you can better it by the practice. Bill knows this much and succeeds...in part. So what does it take to improve, or maybe its better to say ‘realize’ a given melody’s full import? After all, my contention is that most talented trombonist get ballads wrong too, and in so doing create sins far greater than Bills: theirs are inorganic (contrived) inflections, ornaments, approaches, articulation and 'trombonist' vibrato. It might seem that I am damning Bill with faint praise, but I am not; at least I can listen to him. I can’t even suffer the comedies of 'the others' through to the end of a single song. Their celebration of what I will call only…the eccentricity of the moment, wherein they insert…wrongness, in the name of style is just too perturbing. Surely it takes more than finding a new way to perturb a melody line with your own series of strange approaches and articulations to register your uniqueness as a musician! As creative as they might be in their...oddness, they are not additionally musical as Bill was. Bill would agree; would that we could ask. Taste is so rare a thing. Thanks Bill! R.I.P. Your legacy is ensured.

[@alsuz]

Thank you, Tim, for leaving your impressions about ballads and trombone playing. These 'tomes' you wrote are, by far, the longest comments on one of the videos of my channel. Bill Watrous played ballads like no one else. Before him, only Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Urbie Green would play romantic songs the way they were meant to be played, or better said, interpreted. These gentlemen were gifted by God to play love themes. It doesn't mean that the other trombonists aren't good, or that they're bad, no. It just means that those four gentlemen were uniquely equipped to play that kind of music, way above any other. After them, there are wonderful trombonists, like Frank Rosolino or Alan Kaplan, whose sound and interpretation I love. But if you ask the public (including me), those four guys are the ones that touch the hearts. Quoting your saying, 'Alan Kaplan makes me smile, but Bill Watrous, Urbie Green and Tommy Dorsey make me dream... They tick all the boxes for me. As you know, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. A question: have you written a book? I think you are a terrific writer. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, God bless you!

[@philosophicallyspeaking6463]

Hi Alex, How nice to hear from you! I of course love this song, and know the history of its original performance. I find that I have been moved to write a lot lately on the performance of ballads and the failure of this generation of musicians to undertake the obligation due to the great melodies of the past. I was, in a different life, a busy professional player, so I know something of what I speak. When I was young, I used to love Frank, Carl et al, but as I came to participate (albeit to a lessor degree) in their ability, I laid them aside as the idols of my youth. Only Urbie Green persists untouched and untarnished. Playing ballads is a different matter altogether. I don’t want to hear most of the great ‘jazz’ players butcher ballads in pursuit of improvisational genius. Only Urbie manages that without leaving a mark. ‘Dedicated’ ballad players grow board servicing the music, look for themselves, and then lose the music. Having missed the opportunity to thank Bill, I will later today post, ‘A Letter To Urbie Green’ on the forum TromboneChat, while he persists in health to repay him for having entertained, discouraged and inspired me low all these years, without having received adequate commendation or compensation. It is in my recreational practise to use my voice to publicly repay those whom I feel a debt towards; few as they are; so rare are good men of ‘note’. If I can do it ‘in their time’, all the better. Thank you for posting and allowing me to celebrate my greater love of music and lessor enthusiasm for musicians. I have written several books and may write a book on matters concerning music as time permits, but my experience of musical enthusiasts is that they reject any attempt to describe their emotional affections and afflictions in terms concrete (see below), such as I have attempted here and elsewhere. Matters philosophical engage my professional practice. The volumes pertaining to those abstractions are currently withdrawn, in service of my ‘popularizing’ them to reflect the general degeneration of literacy in the age of KZbin, and await my retirement to find their way into the public accounting. I wish you 'opportunity' in the new year, the foresight to recognize it, and the courage to explore it. A very Merry Christmas to you and yours! Tim

[@m.j.mcilroy5470]

Bottom line. This is probably the most beautiful solo that Mr Watrous ever played that was recorded on You Tube, next to his first album. This guy when he didn't have the mike up his bell had in my opinion the most beautiful natural sound of anybody including Urbie Green, and in my humble opinion, Bill could play a ballad like no one else. Si Zentner was also capable of great ballad playing, made quite unique with his Jewish violin style unique vibrato.

[@philosophicallyspeaking6463]

I wish I had your experience of his playing 'live' to better advise my fuller appreciation of his talents; it is a very different business from studio recording to be sure. He is otherwise recommended beyond fault by legacy of his association with the talented musical company he kept.

[@robdykes3659]

Can you tell me the piece of music or were l can hear that piece of music in heartbreak ridge a Clint Eastwood movie when he is dancing/waltzing with Marsha mason cheers