John is one of the Trumpet’s leading scholars, and one of its main practitioners. His work with composers throughout the 20th Century has left a rich legacy of pieces that are truly spectacular. In this, his work with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is particularly salient. As a thinker he is unparalleled, and I wanted to have him on, because he is one of the Trumpet’s most educated and interesting advocates, and a gentleman through and through. As my friend Jonah Levy said to me once: “I would tune in to hear John speak about anything, even if he was only reading a phone book.”

John is a rare breed in the trumpet world: a true academic. Despite not having a Ph.D. or a D.M.A. he has arguably produced more useful research than anyone in the field, including his seminal book: The Trumpet. It is astounding to me that with the amount of people in America pursuing DMA’s, it takes someone like John to investigate thoroughly. This makes me question what all these people who now get to call themselves Doctor, indeed they often insist on it, are doing to advance the research in our field. The bar is laughably low in brass to achieve the highest academic degree, and it shows.