Brian A. Shook

William Vacchiano (19122005) was principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic from 1942 to 1973 and taught at Juilliard the Manhattan School of Music the Mannes College of Music Queens College and Columbia Teachers College. While at the Philharmonic Vacchiano performed under the batons of Arturo Toscanini Bruno Walter Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein and played in the world premieres of almost 200 pieces by such composers as Vaughan Williams Copland and Barber. Vacchiano was important not only for his performances but also for his teaching. His students have held the principal chairs of many major orchestras and are prominent teachers themselves and they have enriched non-classical music as well. Two of his better known students are Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis. Last Stop Carnegie Hall features an overview of the life of this very private artist based on several personal interviews conducted by Brian A. Shook and Vacchianos notes for his own unpublished memoir. Shook also interviewed many of his students and colleagues and includes a chapter containing their recollections. Other important topics include analyses of Vacchianos pedagogical methods and his interpretations of important trumpet pieces his rules of orchestral performance and his equipment. A discography a bibliography of Vacchianos own works and lists of his students and the conductors and players with whom he performed round out this richly illustrated examination of one of the most influential trumpet players and teachers of the twentieth century.