David Mason

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

David Mason was an English trumpeter, born in 1926 in London. He studied at the Royal College of Music. Because during the Second World War he was still too young for conscription, while many older musicians had to serve, he already got a lot of work in London as a teenager. Later he played in the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, became principal trumpet of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and played for a long time with the Philharmonia. For thirty years he taught at the Royal College of Music.

Music and breakthrough

In the classical world he stood out in 1958, when he played the flugelhorn at the premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Ninth Symphony, an instrument mainly known from jazz and brass bands. But his best-known notes sound in pop music. On 17 January 1967 he recorded the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatles' Penny Lane at Abbey Road Studios. The idea grew out of a performance of Bach's Second Brandenburg Concerto, and the solo accordingly sounds like imitation Baroque.

Influence

The piccolo trumpet has a clear, high sound that stands out well above the rest of the music. The producer George Martin later wrote that nothing like it had ever been done in rock music. Mason also played on other Beatles songs, such as A Day in the Life, Magical Mystery Tour and All You Need Is Love. He died in 2011.

Listening

In School of Rock

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• Mixtape 3: The Beatles^NL Reader