Calicchio Artist Series: Gary Grant Custom Mouthpiece - A Brass Mavens Exclusive!
Trumpet artist and Grammy winning producer Gary Grant was born and raised in a musical family, receiving early instruction in the trumpet from his father. Fresh out of North Texas State, Gary went on the road with the famed Woody Herman band where he served as a lead trumpet and often as a featured soloist. After two years, Gary ended up in Hawaii, where he spent the next few years collaborating with a phenomenal group of musicians and performing with his own big band as well as other ensembles.
In the mid-70's, Gary moved to Los Angeles and soon became one of the most sought-after studio musicians, accumulating an impressive list of recordings that include many top hits of the past five decades or more. Gary is also a part of the world famous "Jerry Hey" horn section and can be heard on many of the rock, jazz and pop albums in your collection! Gary is legendary in the studio industry, recording with the biggest international stars: Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Paul McCartney, Toni Braxton, Toto, Brian McKnight, Natalie Cole, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Jarreau, Take Six, Elton John and Aerosmith. Gary was the go-to for heavy producers like Quincy Jones, David Foster, Dave Grusin, and Baby Face. Gary also appeared as a guest artist on the multi-Grammy winning album Chicago 17. His body of work with Jerry Hey would take another paragraph or two!!
As a featured soloist, Gary's rich and clear sound can be heard all over the world in many famous movie soundtracks, including a wonderful solo in the main title in the motion picture, The Bodyguard. Other solo features in motion pictures include: Tin Cup, First Wives Club, Eraser, Forest Gump, and Judge Dredd. Mr. Grant can also be heard in the brass section on recent soundtracks of blockbusters from Sony, Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and more, including one of my favorites the brass-heavy cues on Speed Racer. Gary can be heard on most films from major franchises like the Lethal Weapon series, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman, Austin Powers, Back to the Future and other major franchises. Seriously, check out his IMDB page.
Gary Grant's recording credits extend far beyond the world of film. He also has worked on numerous popular television shows like The Simpsons, Tales From the Crypt, ER; the CBS and ABC Themes, HBO Boxing, Comic Relief, the Academy Awards; and also high profile commercials for AOL, Pepsi Cola, Intel Pentium, National Car Rental and so many more.
To be a great lead trumpet player, you have to be a great jazz player
- Gary Grant
Gary states that he puts much more stock in the player rather than the equipment. That said, his mouthpiece has served him well for many years, and it is now available to the community at large. Gary's mouthpiece of choice for decades has been a custom Reeves, which he uses for most of his playing. This is an exact copy of it, made by Kanstul Musical Instruments:
• 0.670" Inner Rim Diameter (similar diameter to Bach 1.5 or perhaps Schilke 15)
• #28 Throat
• Medium cup
• Reeves fabulous 692 backbore
• Marked D CALICCHIO GRANT
• Contemporary Calicchio Contour
The Artist Series mouthpieces are rare: only one or two duplicates of each were made for reference. The mouthpiece in this listing is one of those reference mouthpieces. This is a Brass Mavens Exclusive, as this mouthpiece is available nowhere else! It is as advertised - a copy of Gary Grant's actual mouthpiece.
Trumpet artist and Grammy winning producer Gary Grant was born and raised in a musical family, receiving early instruction in the trumpet from his father. Fresh out of North Texas State, Gary went on the road with the famed Woody Herman band where he served as a lead trumpet and often as a featured soloist. After two years, Gary ended up in Hawaii, where he spent the next few years collaborating with a phenomenal group of musicians and performing with his own big band as well as other ensembles.
In the mid-70's, Gary moved to Los Angeles and soon became one of the most sought-after studio musicians, accumulating an impressive list of recordings that include many top hits of the past five decades or more. Gary is also a part of the world famous "Jerry Hey" horn section and can be heard on many of the rock, jazz and pop albums in your collection! Gary is legendary in the studio industry, recording with the biggest international stars: Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Paul McCartney, Toni Braxton, Toto, Brian McKnight, Natalie Cole, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Jarreau, Take Six, Elton John and Aerosmith. Gary was the go-to for heavy producers like Quincy Jones, David Foster, Dave Grusin, and Baby Face. Gary also appeared as a guest artist on the multi-Grammy winning album Chicago 17. His body of work with Jerry Hey would take another paragraph or two!!
As a featured soloist, Gary's rich and clear sound can be heard all over the world in many famous movie soundtracks, including a wonderful solo in the main title in the motion picture, The Bodyguard. Other solo features in motion pictures include: Tin Cup, First Wives Club, Eraser, Forest Gump, and Judge Dredd. Mr. Grant can also be heard in the brass section on recent soundtracks of blockbusters from Sony, Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and more, including one of my favorites the brass-heavy cues on Speed Racer. Gary can be heard on most films from major franchises like the Lethal Weapon series, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman, Austin Powers, Back to the Future and other major franchises. Seriously, check out his IMDB page.
Gary Grant's recording credits extend far beyond the world of film. He also has worked on numerous popular television shows like The Simpsons, Tales From the Crypt, ER; the CBS and ABC Themes, HBO Boxing, Comic Relief, the Academy Awards; and also high profile commercials for AOL, Pepsi Cola, Intel Pentium, National Car Rental and so many more.
To be a great lead trumpet player, you have to be a great jazz player
- Gary Grant
Gary states that he puts much more stock in the player rather than the equipment. That said, his mouthpiece has served him well for many years, and it is now available to the community at large. Gary's mouthpiece of choice for decades has been a custom Reeves, which he uses for most of his playing. This is an exact copy of it, made by Kanstul Musical Instruments:
• 0.670" Inner Rim Diameter (similar diameter to Bach 1.5 or perhaps Schilke 15)
• #28 Throat
• Medium cup
• Reeves fabulous 692 backbore
• Marked D CALICCHIO GRANT
• Contemporary Calicchio Contour
The Artist Series mouthpieces are rare: only one or two duplicates of each were made for reference. The mouthpiece in this listing is one of those reference mouthpieces. This is a Brass Mavens Exclusive, as this mouthpiece is available nowhere else! It is as advertised - a copy of Gary Grant's actual mouthpiece.
Trumpet artist and Grammy winning producer Gary Grant was born and raised in a musical family, receiving early instruction in the trumpet from his father. Fresh out of North Texas State, Gary went on the road with the famed Woody Herman band where he served as a lead trumpet and often as a featured soloist. After two years, Gary ended up in Hawaii, where he spent the next few years collaborating with a phenomenal group of musicians and performing with his own big band as well as other ensembles.
In the mid-70's, Gary moved to Los Angeles and soon became one of the most sought-after studio musicians, accumulating an impressive list of recordings that include many top hits of the past five decades or more. Gary is also a part of the world famous "Jerry Hey" horn section and can be heard on many of the rock, jazz and pop albums in your collection! Gary is legendary in the studio industry, recording with the biggest international stars: Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Paul McCartney, Toni Braxton, Toto, Brian McKnight, Natalie Cole, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Jarreau, Take Six, Elton John and Aerosmith. Gary was the go-to for heavy producers like Quincy Jones, David Foster, Dave Grusin, and Baby Face. Gary also appeared as a guest artist on the multi-Grammy winning album Chicago 17. His body of work with Jerry Hey would take another paragraph or two!!
As a featured soloist, Gary's rich and clear sound can be heard all over the world in many famous movie soundtracks, including a wonderful solo in the main title in the motion picture, The Bodyguard. Other solo features in motion pictures include: Tin Cup, First Wives Club, Eraser, Forest Gump, and Judge Dredd. Mr. Grant can also be heard in the brass section on recent soundtracks of blockbusters from Sony, Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and more, including one of my favorites the brass-heavy cues on Speed Racer. Gary can be heard on most films from major franchises like the Lethal Weapon series, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman, Austin Powers, Back to the Future and other major franchises. Seriously, check out his IMDB page.
Gary Grant's recording credits extend far beyond the world of film. He also has worked on numerous popular television shows like The Simpsons, Tales From the Crypt, ER; the CBS and ABC Themes, HBO Boxing, Comic Relief, the Academy Awards; and also high profile commercials for AOL, Pepsi Cola, Intel Pentium, National Car Rental and so many more.
To be a great lead trumpet player, you have to be a great jazz player
- Gary Grant
Gary states that he puts much more stock in the player rather than the equipment. That said, his mouthpiece has served him well for many years, and it is now available to the community at large. Gary's mouthpiece of choice for decades has been a custom Reeves, which he uses for most of his playing. This is an exact copy of it, made by Kanstul Musical Instruments:
• 0.670" Inner Rim Diameter (similar diameter to Bach 1.5 or perhaps Schilke 15)
• #28 Throat
• Medium cup
• Reeves fabulous 692 backbore
• Marked D CALICCHIO GRANT
• Contemporary Calicchio Contour
The Artist Series mouthpieces are rare: only one or two duplicates of each were made for reference. The mouthpiece in this listing is one of those reference mouthpieces. This is a Brass Mavens Exclusive, as this mouthpiece is available nowhere else! It is as advertised - a copy of Gary Grant's actual mouthpiece.
Domenick Calicchio may best be remembered as a master craftsman and instrument maker, but did you know that he also made fine custom mouthpieces? Dominick used traditional tooling and methods, and did not keep many notes or drawings of these unique pieces, but he crafted fabulous custom mouthpieces - by hand- for the best players of the day.
A few years ago, Calicchio’s owner master craftsman John Duda sought to recreate some of these famous one-of-a-kind mouthpieces as the Calicchio Artist Series, and collect others to be included in the collection. Trusted agents helped track down the owners and asked if they would consider allowing replicas of these hand made custom mouthpieces to be made.
It was decided that the task of recreating these 'Holy Grail' mouthpieces should only be entrusted to the experts at Kanstul Musical Instruments, the pioneer and industry leader in single point mouthpiece scanning and accurate duplication at the time. Zig Kanstul welcomed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to honor this part of Domenick Calicchio’s legacy and he appointed his master craftsman (who at one time had worked for Domenick himself) to do the work.
These rare mouthpieces were collected and scanned over a period of weeks, and the originals quickly and safely returned to their owners. But John's health began to decline and for a time the entire industry was facing the challenges of a major recession. Later, Zig Kanstul passed, and the factory he founded shuttered. John Duda himself passed away recently, and it seemed the Calicchio Artist Series mouthpieces might never see the light of day after all...until now!
With your purchase, you will have bragging rights that you are directly supporting the effort to not only save Calicchio Musical Instruments, but also to highlight the contributions Domenick Calicchio and John Duda made to the industry.
Kanstul Musical Instruments was a pioneer in single-point scanning and mouthpiece duplication. Before the factory was shuttered, players from around the world trusted Kanstul for their accuracy in duplicating the most valuable and unique mouthpieces, as well as extremely consistent production mouthpieces. It can be argued that Zig Kanstul’s master craftsman helped educate the current generation of mouthpiece makers, and he continues to serve as a resource and consultant to the industry to this day.
