Friday, May 11, 2007

Happy Birthday. . .Man!

Today is the birthday (b. 1929) of leader-trumpet player-arranger John Coppola. John has been such a pleasure to work on the release of he and wife Frances Lynne's CD Remember that will be issued by SSJ Records (Japan) in July.
A former Woody Herman trumpet star, John has remained consistently active up to the present as a leader, arranger and player in the San Francisco area (and elsewhere).
At least several hours' worth of phone calls with Frances, but mostly John, have gone into the June release of their terrific album. Discussions about cover art, liner notes, etc. And in the process John has kept me up to date on his ongoing professional activities; one day a Chinese funeral, the next working with a local big band, conventions, etc.
I always love when he calls me, "Man," because it's really coming from the lips of the first generation of those who took up that interjection as a regular part of their ongoing daily vocabulary. No one says, "Hey, man!" (OR plays the trumpet) quite like John Coppola. What a nice guy! Happy birthday, John!

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