Tommy Johnson: Bruce Broughton's "Concerto for Tuba and Winds" with the Army Band, Feb. 7, 1987

[@holton345]

I was in the audience for this. It was fantastic! I also played in the large all-military ensemble and the performance of all the DC guys with TUSAB on "The Melody Shop" and "Them Basses". Tommy and Don Harry and other luminaries played in that, too. I stood next to Jan Duga and behind Brian Bowman. We were supposed to have memorized this, and Jan and I did not, so she ran me into the TUSAB Admin office where she knew there was a good copier. She taped it to Bowman's back so we could cheat. He just smiled and said, "I hope you can keep up with me!" And he swayed back and forth the whole time. It was hilarious because Jan and I both had to sway with him to see the music. The 1987 Army Conference was a really great one and a great experience for me. I was a member of the Army Band of New York City and was asked to participate, along with our principal euph, Tony Bortone. Good times! Tommy's masterclass included the clip of him sightreading that nightmare BankAmericard commercial and nailing it to the wall!

[@WestCoastDP]

In about 1976, I played bass guitar next to Tommy on a Warner-Brothers recording with Spike Jones Jr. At first, I was a bit down because I thought I was going to track the tuba part like I did earlier on another recording with Jr., but they wanted one pass with most of the players. No problem, Tommy was a great guy to talk too. Miss that guy.

[@dmntuba]

I was at that workshop and soaked up every word and note that he played. One of the true greats 👍

[@tubadylan]

Just wonderful! He played this with piano accompaniment on his last recital at UCLA in 1994 on his B & S tuba with the Mraphone 185 bell. I miss him so much!

[@LeLg267]

0:00 Allegro moderato 3:12 Andante moderato 6:43 Allegro leggiero

[@Jerthepear]

Great playing. Such a tremendous musician. Thank you so very much for posting this.