[Trombone-l] Rocky Suite overdub

[Raymond Horton]

Wow, what a story! Amazing that you can come back after all of that and play so well on this  recording!! Stay well!

Raymond Horton
Composer/Arranger 
Minister of Music, 
Edwardsville (IN) United Methodist Church
Retired Bass Trombonist,
Louisville Orchestra, 1970-2016

> On Mar 1, 2023, at 6:19 PM, Jim Nova via Trombone-l <trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
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