Jack Tatchell enjoys the bright sound of the trumpet and the warmer, softer sound of the fluegel horn.
In an upcoming concert, it's his trumpet-playing he will be showing off, as he joins three other musicians in "Let the Trumpets Sound," one of several instalments of the Music for the Soul recital series.
A well-known North Battleford musician and businessman, Tatchell says he is looking forward to the Jan. 22 concert, in which he will perform with recital series originators pianist Jaya Hoy and singer Lisa Hornung. He is pleased to have been approached by Hoy and Hornung to take part in their music series, and he was eager to take part.
He is also looking forward to playing with their other guest, Terry Heckman of Saskatoon.
"I've touched shoulders with Terry musically in the past," says Tatchell, and is looking forward to playing with "a fellow of his calibre."
Heckman has been the principal trumpet of the Saskatoon Symphony since 1991, and the Bandmaster of the Saskatoon Brass Band since 1998. He is also a member of the Saskatchewan Brass, and frequently performs with many other ensembles. Heckman also accepted a position as the orchestra personnel manager with the Saskatoon Symphony in September 2011. He has established himself as a teacher, clinician and adjudicator of brass instruments and bands throughout the prairie provinces.
Tatchell expects to play "a couple of bebop tunes with Terry." They were written especially for trumpet, says Tatchell, and he and Heckman will "sort of chase each other around musically."
Tatchell is also readying a popular Herbert L. Clarke trumpet solo entitled Bride of the Waves, first published in 1904.
"It's a good challenge for me," he says, ""because I haven't played it for a while."
Once a member of the Bourbon Street Dixieland Show Band (now disbanded), Tatchell plays trumpet in the Saskatoon Jazz Society Big Band and in the King Street Station Jazz Band with his drum-playing brother Don.
Tatchell notes he is a former neighbour of Jaya Hoy, known to many North Battlefords residents as Chicki McPhail.
"We lived right next door to each other," he said. Both their fathers served in the Second World War and settled in the Veterans Land Assistance area of North Battleford.
"The Tatchells and the McPhails were in and out of one another's houses all the time," he laughs.
While the latest date in the Music for the Soul series is Jan. 22 at Third Avenue United Church, the February date is yet to be determined. It had been scheduled for Feb. 12, but upon Hoy and Hornung discovering the Gallery Singers were presenting Faure Requiem, they decided to postpone their recital in support of the Gallery Singers event.
In other upcoming recital dates, the Community Youth Choir, conducted by Hornung, will be presenting their Creative Kids! fundraising concert March 4. March 23 is the date of the Battlefords Music Festival Awards Gala and May 6 is the Community Youth Choir annual Spring Tuning concert.
Further Music for the Soul concert dates will be announced as they are scheduled.
The concert series began last winter, organized by Hornung and Hoy, who both grew up in North Battleford and have enjoyed international musical careers. While Hornung has based her career out of the Battlefords, Hoy has worked mainly out of the United States. She has recently returned to care for her mother, Dr. Mary McPhail.
The two artists have used their contacts as professionals to bring international level artists to the Battlefords.
