Thank You from Eric Boeren.

(To avoid the risk of 'losing' this comment from Eric Boeren I have published it as a seperate post - Lance)

Thanks good people of Newcastle for the warm reception our quartet received at the Side Café. We had a ball.

I do read a bit of confusion as to what instrument I am playing: a cornet, made by C.G. Conn in the early 1930's. It does look like a trumpet but the 'inside' is conical where a trumpet is cylindrical. The 'feel' of a trumpet is different from the cornet and the sound is more pregnant. My guess is that, since in those years the greatest trumpet player of all time (at least to me) Louis Armstrong, had switched from cornet to trumpet, the Conn Company started to cater for those cornet players who wanted to have an instrument that looked like that of their hero, but who could not come to terms with different resistence they were met with.

When I started out in 1979 (at 19) my first instrument was a cornet. A short model with a so called 'shepherd's crook'. Later on I was asked by several group leaders that I was working for to play the trumpet. But I could never come to terms with the different feel and response of the trumpet. On top of that I found it harder to blend with other horns. In the early 1990's I swapped back to the cornet. In 2001 I found this Conn that I have been playing ever since. It blends nicely with reed instrumemts and, maybe due to it being designed looking like a trumpet, I can play in big bands without feeling lost in the section. On behalf of Sean, Wilbert and Paul I would like to thank you all once more for your warm welcome and ditto reception of our music. We can't wait to come back to Newcastle. Eric Boeren

(This comment was in reply to postings by Roly and Russell.)