A Recent Review of DEW DROP

Review from the TUBA Journal, vol. 27, number 3, Spring 2000

Glenn Horiuchi’s Dew Drop is an evocative blend of western minimalism, jazz improvisation, and eastern tonality. Featured on this CD are Horiuchi on piano and shamisen (Japanese percussive banjo). Francis Wong on sax, bamboo flute, violin, and ehru (Chinese violin). William Roper on tuba, and Jeanette Wrate on percussion. While this is not a CD featuring the tuba, it does use the tuba to its utmost. Roper is featured prominently on two of the CD’s four tracks. Roper plays the tuba wonderfully, but it is what he makes the tuba do that impresses me. In the middle of the track 4 (entitled : “Dew Drop”), Mr. Roper’s tuba displays the gamut of emotions in a duet with the shamisen. Playing over the entire range of the the instrument, Roper growls, sings, bend, half-valves, and smears, making the tuba more of a voice than a sound. The music makes huge leaps. One moment Roper is singing in the extreme upper register and the next he is playing at the bottom end. Roper ends the movement with long tones in direct counterpoint to the flute. On track 2, “Issei Spirit” Roper takes on more of a mechanical role. His opening bass line is very strict in contrast to the shamisen’s exclamatory statements. There is wonderful interplay between the tuba, ehru, and shamisen, with the tuba making pointillistic utterances against the long lines of the other two instruments. A later, march-like section with flute, tuba, and percussion is especially powerful. There is a final cadenza for tuba that finds Roper alternately playing and vocalizing. It is an amazing display of tuba playing. It is always good to hear the tuba in a totally different setting. There is much to learn from Roper’s playing, especially from the emotions he portrays with the tuba. While not for everyone, this highly eclectic music is beautiful for its mixture of sounds and emotions. Roper’s contribution is a powerful one. His playing is first rate and his musicianship is beyond reproach.

Chuck Jackson

• A new CD by Double(2X) Yellow
• A review of The Lament of Absalom
• Discography
• L.A. Times Review
• Events in 2000

• Commentary by Francis Wong
• Some photos of Glenn from the past few years.

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