Antonio
Underwood
 Tuba
Mirum
Why would an eleven year-old boy choose the tuba as his instrument
of choice – confidence in ones self, unafraid to march to the
beat of a different drummer, or perhaps shear genius? We can postulate
on the why forever, however, that will not be necessary. Antonio Underwood
chose the Tuba as his musical voice because of its sound. “It
was form over function. When you grow up in an angry environment,
[anger lives in you, too]. The instrument was it self so warm. And
when I played it, it really cooled me out. I heard the sound and I
would play this sound. It was like being in a monastery or something.
The sound was enveloping; it was all around me. Even the long notes
had the ability to create peace and that did it for me.”
Historically, the tuba is not an instrument that one would readily
associate with jazz. Upon receiving Underwood’s debut CD Tuba
Mirum, my mind said what?! This can’t be so, a tuba as a solo
voice… in smooth jazz? I’m thinking John Phillip Sousa,
James Reese Europe, and the bombastic sound of march music…
Classical music, for lack of a better word, yes, orchestral compositions,
yes, but jazz – that was a bit of a stretch for me until I moved
beyond the stereotypical look, sound, and feel of jazz music. “It
was the concept I applied to making this record,” Underwood
explained. “I approached the making of this CD not from the
angle of the tuba, but from the landscape that I placed the tuba in.
So, my orchestration had to fit the actual ambience that I wanted
to create with the instrument.”
Antonio Underwood began playing professionally in his sophomore year
at The College of New Jersey. At age nineteen, he was playing the
tuba in noted jazz venues in New York such as Sweet Basils’
on 7th Avenue S. and Lush Life. He shared his horn and its soothing
sound in places like The Village Gate, The Vanguard, and The Greenwich
House. “The New York area musicians fertilized my love and intrigue
of the tuba. Howard Johnson, the premier jazz tuba player in the world,
brought me into the fold. He influenced how I began to see myself,
musically. I learned what I had to learn. So, when I returned to school,
I knew what I needed to work on to make it at that level.”
Playing those Manhattan venues and working with jazz icons Max Roach
and McCoy Tyner among others, before graduating from Yale School of
Music with a masters’ degree in Classical Performance, Underwood
learned and developed a real appreciation and true understanding of
the jazz culture. He understood that he needed both the practical
experience, paying your dues, and the technical skills obtained through
further study in order to be a true contender in the business of making
music.
After an eight year hiatus, Underwood has returned to jazz with his
first solo album Tuba Mirum. He has laid his instrument upon many
beds to showcase its’ diverse voices. The varied and dynamic
use of the tuba is brilliantly illustrated on the track, A Child Is
Born. “I placed it in a jazzy 40’s or 50’s setting
with strings. Save Our People is more ethereal. It brings in the colors
of today’s generation with the synthetic sounds and different
flavors that created a landscape that feels like a movie soundtrack.”
“The tuba can fit within it’s diversity in any world,”
says Underwood. “And I’ve stepped back into the genre
of jazz music with Tuba Mirum to not only validate that belief, but
to give respect to all the people who have had a true hand in my development
over time. For over twenty-five years, I have played other people’s
music, people I looked up to and appreciated. Now is the time for
me to say something. This record is the history of my life in music.” |
