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Jay Webb Trumpet Interview – The Other Side of the Bell #152

Jay Webb Trumpet Interview

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #15 of The Other Side of the Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features trumpet performer Jay Webb.

You might know him from TikTok, or perhaps any of the myriad projects where he appears: The Hornheads, the Cory Wong and the Wongnotes YouTube series, any number of Broadway orchestra pits, the Grammy-winning 8-Bit Big Band, or most recently his Doc Severinsen tribute project (DST Band).
Jay Webb is as versatile as they come, and today he shares his story and advice on how to forge a career in the 2020’s.
We talk about his late start in reading music, having learned to play by ear first, and then how moving to New Orleans provided a unique musical experience and education.
Jay shares insight on the balance between touring and freelancing, and that when bringing his career back to Philadelphia years later, it was thanks to having maintained connections in the music industry that he was able to quickly find more opportunities.
You never know who you might connect with and ask you to sub in for a gig, last minute. Jay shows us how to say “Yes” with confidence, and build the professional career that works for you.
Don’t let someone else define your career!

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Kyla Moscovich Trumpet Interview – The Other Side of the Bell #151

Kyla Moscovich Trumpet Interview

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #151 of The Other Side of the Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features trumpet performer and recording artist Kyla Moscovich.

At a year old she had a trumpet in her hands, and she hasn’t looked back since!
Kyla Moscovich has built a burgeoning career that bridges classical, jazz and pop music, performing concerts all over the world and, more recently, developing her studio skills as well, on Grammy-nominated records.
She has studied with Vincent Penzarella, Mark Gould, Laurie Frink and Tom Smith, was mentored by Jon Faddis, and was on stage at Carnegie Hall while still in her teens.
Kyla’s father was close friends with Bob Reeves, and so her potential and trajectory was apparent around the shop from very early days. But, as we talk about today, the trumpet was not necessarily an automatic pursuit.
Kyla struggled to balance the expectations of practice and studying music with friends and normal kid activities, as any kid would, and we talk about what it was like growing up in that kind of environment, making the “jump into adulthood” earlier than most of us have.
Our conversation today is a fascinating glimpse into how to build a modern career in the music industry playing trumpet, not to mention how to pursue your own musical tastes, and forge a path that’s true to you.

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José Hernández Trumpet Interview – The Other Side of the Bell #150

José Hernández Trumpet Interview

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #150 of The Other Side of the Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features Mariachi trumpet performer and recording artist José Hernández.

Few people have had a greater impact on Mariachi music over the past 50 years than José Hernández, and today José joins us to share his musical upbringing, his influences and education, his passion for education and some very interesting insights on balancing a professional music career with business ventures, such as his restaurants.
José is a composer, arranger, performer and recording artist, including being a key musical coordinator on Linda Ronstadt’s landmark 1987 Spanish album, Canciones de Mi Padre, where he helped guide her pronunciation and the Mariachi direction of the music.
Plus, he continues to inspire younger generations through his educational programs, and founding two world-famous ensembles: Mariachi Sol de México®, and Reyna de Los Ángeles®, America’s first all-female professional mariachi ensemble.
José is, relatively speaking, just down the road from us here at Bob Reeves Brass in Valencia, CA, so if you’re in LA make sure to drop by both our shop and the Casa del Sol Cocina down in Irvine, for amazing food and entertainment! On Saturdays, the master could be there himself!

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Preston Shepard Horn Interview – Horn Signal #13

Preston Shepard Horn Interview

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #13 of Horn Signal! This episode features an interview with Los Angeles freelancer and podcaster, Preston Shepard.

About Preston Shepard

Preston Shepard is an active free-lance hornist in the Los Angeles area. A student of Joseph Meyer, he studied at Cal State University Northridge and Azusa Pacific University. Preston has performed with the San Diego Symphony, the Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Long Beach Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Opera Santa Barbara, San Bernardino Symphony, New West Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, Santa Maria Symphony, Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, and many others around the Greater Los Angeles area. He has also recorded on numerous feature films, television shows and specials such as Avatar 2, Zootopia 2, Hocus Pocus 2, Aquaman 2, Wish, Encanto : Live at the Hollywood Bowl, The Game Awards, Big City Greens, The Nun, The Boogeyman, Geostorm, Inhumans, The Orville, Blood and Treasure, Homecoming Season 2, Star Trek : Lower Decks, Picard, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Solar Opposites, and Presumed Innocent as well as for video game projects such as Fortnite, Overwatch and League of Legends.  He has also recorded on albums for artists such as Avenged Sevenfold and Deadmau5. Preston is the adjunct professor of horn at Westmont College and The Master’s University.

Preston Shepard Links

Podcast Credits

  • “Haydn Symphony #31 “Horn Signal““, “Hornpipe” Water Music by Handel and “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” from Wagner’s Lohengrin
  • Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard
  • Cover Art – Meg Ryia
  • Podcast Hosts – John Snell and Preston Shepard

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Johnny Thirkell Trumpet Interview – The Other Side of the Bell #149

Johnny Thirkell Trumpet Interview

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #149 of The Other Side of the Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features trumpet performer and recording artist Johnny Thirkell.

Johnny Thirkell is the proverbial musician whom you’d innocently walk past on the street, having no idea that he was the trumpet sound behind hundreds of distinctive hit records, everyone from Jamiroquai to George Michael, Pet Shop Boys (Go West), Katrina and the Waves (Walking on Sunshine), Natalie Imbruglia (Torn), BTS (Dynamite) and so many more. 38 number one records in fact.
Johnny’s played and/or toured with Level 42, Tina Turner, Lisa Stansfield, Kylie Minogue, Bjork, Chaka Khan, Bon Jovi, The Who, Rick Astley (at the height of his prime), and played at the Prince’s Trust multiple times.
It’s not all pop music either, Johnny’s played with the Gil Evans Orchestra, the Buddy Rich Orchestra and the BBC Radio Big Band.
So, how did he do it?
Johnny’s here to tell the story of how he went from a potential coal mining career to gracing the stage at Wembley, with along the way a regular gig on the QE2 and oh, helping discover the Spice Girls too.
And of course we talk trumpet gear and technique, including life-changing lessons from Carmine Caruso and the difference that playing a gold-plated trumpet made to a commercial jingle!

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In Horn Signal

Audrey Flores Horn Interview – Horn Signal #12

Audrey Flores Horn Interview

Welcome to the show notes for Episode #12 of Horn Signal! This episode features an interview with NYC freelancer and Broadway hornist, Audrey Flores.

About Audrey Flores

Audrey Flores is a freelancing horn player in New York City. She performs on a Patterson Hornworks Triple Horn.

Audrey began playing as a substitute on The Lion King in 2012, and as solo horn on Aladdin in 2015, and held chairs in Tammy Faye in 2024 and Boop! The Musical in 2025. She is the horn player at Paper Mill Playhouse and has also played productions at the Westport Playhouse and at the Delaware Theatre Company. She can be heard on cast album recordings for Boop!, She Has Risen, an all-female concept album of Jesus Christ Superstar, and on the single tracks for Lempicka. Audrey also recorded a self-titled solo album in 2017.

Audrey appeared as Principal Horn of the Princeton Symphony and the Reading Symphony during the 2023/2024 season. She was Acting Principal Horn of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Ohio for the 2017-2018 season. Audrey has also played with the New World Symphony, the Miami, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Distinguished Concerts International Orchestra of New York, the Jerusalem Symphony, the American Ballet Theatre, the New York Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra, and the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble.  She was a musician in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Orchestra in 2019, 2018, 2012 and 2011, and in the New York Spectacular in the summer of 2016.  She is also a proud member of Russ Anixter’s Hippie Big Band in NYC, who recently produced its first album. She has also recorded for the 8-Bit Big Band, and is currently developing a new solo album which will celebrate Sephardic, Spanish, and Mexican music through horn and guitar.

Audrey is a passionate advocate for musicians of color in the arts. In addition to mentoring and creating access for musicians of color in NYC through Musicians of Social Equity (MUSE) and Maestra Music, she has been a faculty member of Juilliard MAP since 2021, where she strives to give young underrepresented musicians any resource and benefit they might need to pursue the horn successfully and honestly.

Audrey Flores Links

Podcast Credits

  • “Haydn Symphony #31 “Horn Signal““, “Hornpipe” Water Music by Handel and “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” from Wagner’s Lohengrin
  • Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard
  • Cover Art – Meg Ryia
  • Podcast Hosts – John Snell and Preston Shepard

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