Tubas, euphoniums, mouthpieces, and anything music-related.
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Thought this unusual tuba might be of interest to some.
I watched a youtube video of the Gil Evans band playing Jimi Hendrix in Warsaw in 1976, with Bob Stewart on tuba (link below). Bob is playing an interesting tuba that I did not recognize, particularly because of the shepherd's crook configuration of tubing by the valves (see 4:35). There are a couple of pans by the bell engraving, but not enough that I could read it.
My guess was that it might be a Mahillion/Sears tuba, as those were somewhat popular at the time, and their instruments sometimes exhibit unusual tubing routing. Thanks to horn-u-copia, my guess was confirmed (to my satisfaction, anyway). Though it's interesting that the horn does not have the round shield logo, as many of their horns do.
There is also a longer YT video of Gil Evans in a Hamburg concert in 1986, with Howard Johnson on tuba; along with the above Warsaw concert in 1976.
These users thanked the author Mikelynch for the post (total 3):
Thanks for posting this Mike. I well remember those horns at Mr. Sear's shop in the mezzanine of the paramount Hotel. He would almost always tout their durability with " you can take these on the subway" hence we ,in the West Point Band referred to them as the Subway Model. Bob Stewart reminds me alot of Dave Bargeron. Who came first? And I noticed Lew Soloff in the trumpets who was in Blood Sweat and Tears with Dave. Cool stuff! Regards, Ed
Unclebeer--Could very well be Deprins. From what I see on horn-u-copia, the relevant Deprins and Mahillon look strikingly similar, differing largely in the placement of the 1st valve slide (which could be attributable to the pictures Deprins being a CC, and the Mahillon a BBb). It's not the first time I have wondered if there was significant sharing between the two Belgian makers. When I visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels a couple of decades back, I was struck by some similarities in various instruments from the two makers.
Walter imported and labeled Mahillon, Deprins and Cerveny tubas at various times.
Ed--Good to hear from you! Were those times when Walter had the "subway model" early to mid 70's? Just curious on timing.
Hard to say between Bargeron and Stewart, they were within 3 years of the same age (Dave was the older, born in '42), and Howard Johnson was born in '41, so they all came onto the scene about the same time. I first knew of Dave when he joined BS&T (1970), though I had a friend who gigged with him in NYC several years before BS&T. But I knew of Bob (and Howard) shortly thereafter from the Taj Mahal "Real Thing" recording (1971).
Mikelynch wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 1:36 pm
Unclebeer--Could very well be Deprins.
It's absolutely DePrins. I know Bob, and we played together in Gravity for several decades. He told me it was a DePrins.
Dave & Bob (& Howard). At one time or another, they all played at Your Father's Mustache, a rollicking Dixie club in Greenwich Village. Here's a pic of Dave playing trombone there. At this point, he was also a school band director (!) in the Bronx, where he picked up tuba.
48403541_1288228224674146_8468766052682039296_n.jpg (82.51 KiB) Viewed 576 times
I have seen one with a more normal 3rd valve loop, and for some reason vaguely remember reading that was an adaptation requested for the American market, as someone playing on one in public had a reason the wanted to reach through the wrap? It didn't make sense at the time, and well, 10 years after reading it, it still doesn't, and i've forgotten where i saw it (i feel it was a long note attached to a picture in horn-u-copia)
I do really like these and recall them to be forgiving to early tuba players just learning.
