[Trombone-l] Rocky Suite overdub

[Jim Nova]

Rocky Suite 
By Bill Conti
Arr. Jim Nova

As some of you know, last summer I was diagnosed with a bilateral hernia. While hernias aren’t life threatening and are common, they’re scary for brass players. No, it wasn’t too much high range trombone playing that caused it… 😉 Turns out it runs in my family and all the heavy manual labor I did as a kid working in my Dad’s restaurant and for moving companies in the summers during college is what set the injury in motion…

Last spring, I started feeling nagging abdominal pain and just thought it was from the journey I was on to lose my COVID weight as I dropped 50lbs. and got back into good shape. 

Last summer it got worse and worse. I played hurt and any time you heard me play at STS, ITF, or on tour with the PSO, I was in serious pain as I bided my time until I could get the surgery to correct this injury. 

On September 7th, 2 days after coming home from the PSO European tour, I was on an operating table, having major abdominal surgery. This was the scariest moment of my professional career, as I knew this would fundamentally change the way I play for the rest of my career.

Even though the initial recovery took about 4 weeks, and I was back onstage shortly thereafter, I’m still recalibrating and dealing with residual pain and adjustments. I’m basically relearning how to play and it’s still ongoing. 

When thinking about what would be my first “post surgery” overdub, I gravitated strongly to the music from Rocky. It’s always been one of my favorite movies and scores, the ultimate comeback story. Since I spent 4 years in Philly when I went to Curtis, it just made sense. 

My arrangement, scored for 10 trombones (2 altos doubling on soprano, 6 tenors, 2 basses doubling on contra), drums and electric bass. It starts with “Philadelphia morning” as I connected to the sentiments of uncertainty and worry coming out of surgery. And then I of course had to have the training montage music, “Gonna Fly Now” as I continue to navigate getting my playing back to level ground. I’m still fighting through… 

Special thanks to my amazing PSO colleagues, Andy Reamer (drums) and Jeff Grubbs (bass) for playing on this project. 

Hope you enjoy my comeback overdub! As the saying goes, “A warrior doesn’t always win, but they always fight…”

💪 😉 

https://youtu.be/i1JGP8f6oJM <https://youtu.be/i1JGP8f6oJM>

https://soundcloud.com/jimnova/rocky-suite <https://soundcloud.com/jimnova/rocky-suite>

James Nova
Trombone - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Brass Area Coordinator and Adjunct Trombone Faculty - Duquesne University
Brass Coach - Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras
jimnova.com