slimzim
@jameszimmermann • 21,363 subscribers
Clarinet and Bread || Homeschooler of 3 Girls || Catholic || 15x Certified Salesforce Developer || Content © Me
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Nothing tops “Rasputin Dance Couple”, most wholesome thing ever posted:
slimzim1,382,414 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
John Tesh got the idea for iconic NBA theme “Roundball Rock” while traveling and sang it into his answering machine from a hotel room. Here he is playing the original tape then playing it with a full orchestra. Goes insanely hard, greatest American sports theme ever composed:
slimzim184,742 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Surreal seeing my old Nashville Symphony conductor Giancarlo Guerrero conducting Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show. Giancarlo is the guy I stood up to for trying to fire a black oboe player at a botched blind audition in 2019. I thought that oboist was my friend but I was wrong, he blackmailed Giancarlo and the orchestra into canceling me. It’s a shame because Giancarlo and I used to be great friends, he gave me my big break when he hired me in 2008, helped make me into the player I am. For a guy who doesn’t understand America at all, he’s sure doing well. Amazing he got away with what he did and rode that DEI wave all the way to the Super Bowl. I guess he understands how America works way better than I give him credit for.
slimzim340,668 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
My wife says I’m a “messy cook” because I don’t clean as I go like she does. I’m the same way with software and music: I focus on what I’m doing so I can keep moving forward, then I clean up when I’m done. Cleaning as I go distracts me from the task at hand. Marc Andreessen recently said that when writing software it takes 2 hours to get into what you’re doing, then you work for 10 hours then take another 2 to unplug. That’s the kind of clarinet practicing I did in my 20s – it was maniacal but it got me where I wanted to go.
slimzim44,706 Aufrufe • vor 21 Tagen
APRIL 11TH FUNDRAISER CONCERT: If you’re in Nashville come hear this! Playing some classical, jazz, film music, even gonna sing and play saxophone. Have some great players from X joining me, it’s at a historic venue, gonna be great. Links in the video and below. See you April 11!
slimzim149,954 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
The intent here wasn’t to dunk on Tiana Oberoi – she sounds like a talented kid trying to make it in a near-impossible profession, she’s probably happy to get a bump even if it’s for her ethnicity. My beef is with the people funneling money to the “global brown majority” which explicitly discriminates against whites while toppling meritocracy. Without institutional support, white music students will never realize their potential, which is exactly what these people want: Elimination of white excellence. Notice the piece she’s singing is Italian, from Puccini’s “La rondine” (1917) – show me even one musical work of this quality that has ever emerged from the “global majority”.
slimzim70,871 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
Sad to hear of Catherine O’Hara’s passing. She’s best known as Kevin’s mom from “Home Alone” but her best work is Sheila Albertson from “Waiting for Guffman” where she plays a bad community theater actress. This audition scene is a riot – her terrible singing and dancing, the way she mouths along with her husband’s lines, it’s all incredibly convincing. Takes a highly skilled actress to pull this kind of thing off, she’ll be missed.
slimzim183,597 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
One of my favorite recording credits is the sequel to "A Christmas Story" back in 2022. Ralphie grows up to be a struggling writer, this is the scene where he finally sits down to write his dad's obituary. You hear his dad's voice over a sad clarinet solo, that's me. Surreal hearing myself play the same solos I practiced growing up. It's called "A Christmas Story Christmas", worth a watch (it's on HBO)
slimzim106,852 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
I played with Elina in 2015, but never performed. I was about to, but I had an emergency: We’d just played the overture and I was called off stage and informed that my wife was in an ambulance with chest pains. When asked what I wanted to do, I said “I’m out” and ran out of the hall in my tuxedo, left my clarinets on stage. As I ran out the door the last thing I heard over the PA was the clarinet solo echoing the opening, played by my colleague on no rehearsal. “It’s gonna be ok” I thought as I sprinted for my car. Sadly my wife was not ok, passing away two days later. I always think of this when I hear the Sibelius Violin Concerto now, in a way it was the perfect piece for the occasion, the ultimate expression of loneliness. Here’s Elina playing it that same year, the music of her people. Hope her violin is ok:
slimzim42,222 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
First clarinet clip of 2026 is No. 1 from Alfred Uhl’s 48 Studies for Clarinet, a piece for measuring the soul: Uhl No. 1 was a favorite of my grandteacher Mitchell Lurie, who left his post as Principal Clarinet of the Chicago Symphony to become Hollywood’s first great studio clarinetist (his wife didn’t like the Chicago cold). He taught at USC where I went to school, and when students came to audition for him he’d often put Uhl No. 1 on the stand. Mitchell grew tired of students trying to impress him with fast and flashy music – he wanted to know if you had a soul, and Uhl No. 1 was his favorite way to find that out. I play it often to weigh in, see what bubbles up. First Sunday of a new year and a big day tomorrow, seemed a fitting choice.
slimzim29,179 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
Nice “phrase of the day” from New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist Anthony McGill from Mozart’s “Gran Partita”. This phrase famously appears in the film “Amadeus” in which Salieri notes the “unfulfillable longing” of this music, perfect description. Here’s Anthony:
slimzim20,923 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
![Richard Wagner really cooked in “Die Walküre” with this aria about spring. Lovely clarinet solo accompanies the words “[Spring’s] breath blows through wood and meadow” – such masterful use of the German language, the translation can’t do it justice. By the way these two have just discovered they’re brother and sister, have fallen deeply in love, and are about to conceive the hero of the Ring Cycle. Again, Wagner was cooking.](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2041196008319643672/amplify_video_thumb/2041195851805085696/img/QIe4_esIrifGPMSl.jpg)
Richard Wagner really cooked in “Die Walküre” with this aria about spring. Lovely clarinet solo accompanies the words “[Spring’s] breath blows through wood and meadow” – such masterful use of the German language, the translation can’t do it justice. By the way these two have just discovered they’re brother and sister, have fallen deeply in love, and are about to conceive the hero of the Ring Cycle. Again, Wagner was cooking.
slimzim14,032 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
A good friend’s son was killed in a tragic wakeboarding accident in 2018, I arranged the Mormon hymn “God Be With You Till We Meet Again” for the funeral, played it over the casket. We recorded it a few years later, nice for him to be able to hear it whenever he misses his son:
slimzim21,521 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
"Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) is just piano trio, but Guaraldi added guitar, trumpet, and flute for "Great Pumpkin" (1966), adds a ton of color to the band. "Graveyard Theme" is just alto flute, upright bass, and brush sticks. Extremely spooky, the perfect vibe.
slimzim23,954 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
Exceptional trumpet playing here by James Vaughen on Sibelius 2. Listen to him leading without force, projecting powerfully with glorious sweetness. What a magnificent sound, this was in Detroit a couple years ago when he was around 24 years old. Philly found a gem.
slimzim18,645 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten