– Banned from Utopia, Frank Zappa, Etta James, Michael McDonald, Stevie Nicks, Bette Midler
“Every piece Theo makes plays like a dream, so the question is never about superb response and playability, it’s just, “What sound palette do I want to explore today?””
Testimonial
I have complete confidence in both my Theo Wanne Gaia 2 and Slant Sig 2, having used both on numerous live gigs around the world. I also recently had a chance to record them both on a new jazz CD I mixed and produced, and the artist was blown away with the full, rich, tone and detailed complexity I was able to get in an intimate recording environment. Thank you, Theo, for making my life as a musician easier and more fun!
Biography
The son of two opera singers, Robert Martin was trained as a classical French horn player at the prestigious Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. There he studied with Mason Jones, principle horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and played week after week under the greatest conductors in the world. He would use that experience to good advantage when transitioning into the realm of recording and world tours with the upper echelon of pop music stars. Before leaving Philadelphia, Robert played horn on numerous hit records produced by the highly successful writing team of Gamble, Huff and Bell. Though his recording career began as a French horn player, he would soon be recognized for his prodigious skills as a keyboard player, sax player and vocalist.
More About Robert Martin
Discography
http://multimartinmusic.com/discography.htm –
Inspiration
Q:What is your internal experience when you feel REALLY connected to the music? A:When I feel truly connected to the music I play, my internal experience is a combination of three elements – an intellectual process, a physical process and an emotional response of healthy joy. Granted, the physical process is not internal, but all three elements influence each other, so I’ll describe my experience of that interplay the best I can without turning this into an entire book.You often hear people say, “You need to get out of your own way.” I agree, but not in the way most people understand that concept. It doesn’t mean that your mind goes blank and your “ego” disappears and you become a “vessel” taken over by some mystical power that’s not you. The object of studying and practicing for years to achieve fluid technique and minimal blockage between your ideas and their physical execution, is so that you can make music as unhindered as possible by intellectual and technical limitations, so your music flows as freely as possible from what you hear in your head to what comes out through your voice or your horn or whatever you use to make music. The more you know and understand about every facet of music, the more intellectual resources you will have to draw on. The better your physical technique, the more fluidly and beautifully you will be able to express those abundant ideas. So the combination of intellectual study and physical practice allows you to “get out of your own way” by giving you a flowing wealth of ideas and the facility to execute them. And when those two elements come together, you feel a natural, pure joy, as all three elements feed and reinforce each other in a spontaneous outpouring that lifts you and everyone else. The result of all that is something else that I think many people are confused about – pride. While we’ve heard it blasted for centuries as a sin, Aristotle called it the crown of all virtues, because you EARN it by first practicing other virtues. The person who struts and boasts loudly does not have an ego that’s too big. Their ego is too small and needs to be stroked to compensate. A person who has done the work and knows their own value maintains a quiet confidence and is more naturally humble, because their self-esteem and their ego is calm and solid. Don’t insult such a person by telling them to “leave their ego at the door.” They have worked for and earned their solid, healthy, quiet ego, and that work is what makes them the person they are and the musician they are.
