Pulse - Artist Spotlight: Tony Gambaro

As a teen, Gambaro was labeled a prodigy and got the chance to hone his craft and realize his calling in life when he was chosen to be a featured soloist with the Avant Garde Drum & Bugle Corps—an award winning marching band from Saratoga Springs.

Since then, Gambaro has toured extensively throughout the United States and the world—performing on tours with such well known national acts as The Blues Other Brothers, Ben E. King, Tower of Power and Bon Jovi. He is a founding member of the Burners UK and currently performs in the area’s premier party band New York Players. I sat down with Gambaro to discuss how he got introduced to the trumpet, his live performances and what makes him such a versatile player.

Where did your passion for playing the trumpet begin?

When I was eight years old my mother was going to take me to learn how to play an instrument at the armory in Gloversville, NY—where I grew up. My father played trumpet and I didn’t want to play trumpet because that’s what kids do—they do the opposite of their parents. I go to sign up to play the drums and of course they already had too many drummers, so I ended up with a one valve bugle. Then at the age of 11 or 12, I joined the Avant Garde Drum & Bugle Corps and eventually became a featured soloist. This helped to develop my love for performance, which continued through college right up to today.

Who have been your biggest influences?

Maynard Ferguson because of his ability to hit the high note—I think he is every trumpet player’s hero at one point in their life. Bill Chase is another one, he had a four piece trumpet section rock band called “Chase,” which featured four screaming trumpets and that was an influence because before that I had never seen a group with four screaming trumpets and a rock ‘n’ roll rhythm section.

Maynard Ferguson once named you “Best Lead Trumpet Player” for your performance at a Syracuse College Jazz Festival. What was it like to have one of your major influences recognize your playing like that?

I got the opportunity to play three songs and at the end of the show they gave out individual awards. My father was there to witness it making it a special experience, but I was lucky because I had already developed great chops at that point, which I contribute to learning the instrument from such a young age.

What do you love about performing music live?

Making people happy. People need to feel that you are entertaining them and they want to hear songs they are familiar with. To be a working musician in a small area you need to play in a style that people know. That makes them happy, which in turn makes me happy. But as much as I enjoy making people happy I also enjoy making myself happy. I have been able to achieve that by performing the style of music I have played my entire life, which is horn section oriented because that’s what I find I excel at most.

In 1995 you toured with both Tower of Power and Bon Jovi. What was that experience like?

I met the guys from Tower of Power in Finland when I was playing with The Blues Other Brothers. We were both in Helsinki at the same time and they were playing right down the street from us and we got the chance to go see them on our break. After catching their act, we went back to play our second set and when they were done they came over and caught the end of our performance—giving them the opportunity to see me play. Next thing I know we are in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania playing at the club in the Marriott Hotel and the trumpet player from Tower of Power was there too. So I got his room number from one of the security guards I knew and I slipped a note under his door and he showed up before he had to go play. Two weeks later he called me from Germany and asked me if I would play some dates for him as a sub and it kind of all snowballed from there—it was a great experience. The Bon Jovi thing was only for one tour, but it was a great experience. As a horn player it was boring because it was four songs a night with a small horn section, playing mainly whole notes, but lights camera action—it was unbelievable. The band was great—nothing like people would imagine—they were real family men.

Throughout your career, you have performed in many different bands that exhibit an array of different styles from jazz to funk to rock. How are you able to adjust your playing to suit these bands and their varied sounds?

So far my hardest adjustment has been going from the Burners UK to the New York Players, only because the New York Players first set is cocktail hour. At that time the band is not the focal point, so you are playing everything from jazz to big band stuff, which I obviously know about, but never had to really play before. The New York Players have a book with over 200 songs in it, with everything from Frank Sinatra to Beyonce and there is no set list, so it is so much different than having a set list and having my music and my parts memorized. But it has been good for me and a challenge at the same time because everything before had always been just learn your parts and add your sound. It has been a much more controlled and challenging experience and still is after being a member of the band for more than a year.

To learn more about Tony Gambaro, visit: www.myspace.com/tonygambaro.