In the early sixties, before departing for distant shores, I did a
concert with Shirley Bassey.
Once the concert began it became apparent that certain members of the
orchestra, including our bass trombonist, had taken on a substantial
amount of liquid refreshment. However, all appeared to be proceeding
quite well until, to our chagrin, Ms. Bassey's MD called up "Johnny
One Note", an arrangement by Ted Brennan. This song contains a
fairly significant "work section" which calls out the names
of various instruments in the orchestra, paying off with "...and
the Big Trombone". The arrangement contained all the appropriate
musical phrases to be played by each of the soloists named, each one
followed by a Ba-Rum-Pum-Pum played on the bass trombone.
Here is how the performance went that fateful Sunday night.
First chorus:
"...and the clarinet," (Ba-Rum-Pum-Pum, on the bass
trombone;)
"...and the Piccolo," (Ba-Rum-Pum-Pum, again on the
bass trombone;)
"...and the Lady Harp," (Ba-Rum-Pum-Pum;)
"...and the violin," (Ba-Rum-Pum Pum;)
"...and the castanets," (Ba-Rum-Pum-Pum;)
"...and the BIG TROMBONE," (......................Aah...
f___ it...)