In 1998, while I was teaching at the University of Utah, it struck me that because of the nature of the School of Music and the commuting student body that it was possible that some of the trombone students never played together and that the studio would benefit from having a trombone ensemble. This was the place where they could all meet weekly and play together, strengthening their ensemble skills and having more musical challenges than the average band part would offer them. The University of Utah Trombone Ensemble (UUTE) was born.
We started with nine members and we gave our first concert in the Spring of 1999 at First Presbyterian Church, thanks to my friends Dale Strobel and Ryan Selberg .
Interest in the ensemble began to grow as did our numbers over the next few years. And we started doing themed concerts in 2001. " 2001: A Trombone Odyssey" led to "2002: the Trombone Olimpyad" (misspelled on purpose), and "2003: The Attack of the Bone Clones: The Trombone Menace" and so on. It was a cute hook, but more importantly we were getting stronger and more artistically satisfying each year and our audience was growing.
By 2002 area professionals were joining in and Friday afternoons at the U were trombone time. Eventually the group swelled to a maximum of 27 trombones – a mix of professionals, U students, BYU students and more. By this time we were regular fixtures at the pre-concert LobbyFest at Abravanel Hall for the Christmas Pops concerts (a tradition that still continues to this day) and had done two guest concerts at Snow College. Trombonists were traveling from Ephraim, Provo, and Ogden each week to rehearse and our concerts were getting better and more wide ranging each year.
Then in the Spring of 2004, for reasons that are really beyond the scope of this article (albeit not good reasons), a new Director of the School of Music wanted the ensemble gone and me gone, too. And what looked like the end of UUTE in 2005 was really the beginning of a new and better UUTE. I soon found that we had a number of options for a new home, and the current members were more supportive than ever of continuing. FPC proved to be our best option and just seemed right given that we had appeared in our first concert there in 1999. So we became UUTE: Utah's Ultimate Trombone Ensemble, and a new chapter in our history began.
Now in its second year in the new leaner, meaner, and cleaner 17-18 trombone size (using altos, tenors, and basses), we build on our traditions and continue to produce most of our own arrangements. We give a minimum of two concerts a year and serve as an anchor group for the Community Concert Series at FPC. Most of the working trombonists in the area, side by side with some of the top student talent in this part of the state, comprise the current group. Many of the members currently study with me or have studied with me at some point. Current and past members of the Utah Symphony, members of the Orchestra Temple Square and players from the Utah Chamber Orchestra (the pit orchestra for Ballet West and other Capitol Theatre productions) are represented on our roster, so you can imagine that coming up with a date to perform and time to rehearse is tricky!
This year we will have works on the classical side by Vivaldi, Lauridsen, Berlioz, and Pinkham, as well as jazz selections from Stan Kenton, music from "Home Alone," and our own peculiar traditions: selections from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "Sleigh Ride," and "Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer." Joining in the trombone festivities is UTA: Utah Trombone Authority, which is a professional trombone quartet made up from my colleagues at BYU and the USO, Mark Ammons, Will Kimball, Jim Nova, and me, Russell McKinney. Larry Blackburn will do double duty as organist on the first half and jazz pianist on the second half, along with USO members Don Main, drums and Lee Livengood, bass.
Now that you know us a bit better, don't miss this one-of-a-kind, unique Christmas Concert. You can't have this much fun and a piece of cake anywhere else this holiday season for just $5!
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