Erdmann, a professor of music at Elon, had an article published in the March 2023 issue of The International Trumpet Guild Journal.
Professor of Music Thomas Erdmann in the Department of Music had an article published in the March 2023 issue of The International Trumpet Guild Journal.
The article, “A Lifetime of Musical Dedication: Dave Stahl,” is about the amazingly talented big band lead trumpeter and jazz soloist Dave Stahl.
After earning a Music Education degree from Penn State University, Stahl started as a Pre-Med major but switched, Stahl entered the Army where he was a soloist with The Army Band, the Lead Trumpeter in the Army Blues Band, and Principal Trumpet in the White House Herald Trumpets. Upon his discharge, Stahl was immediately snapped up by a succession of the best big band leaders including Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, with whom he was also road manager, Count Basie, Larry Elgart, and Toshiko Akiyoshi, among many others. Along the way he backed up artists like Tony Bennett, Englebert Humperdinck, Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Jones, Frank Sinatra, including the live telecast from Madison Square Garden entitled Sinatra: The Main Event, Mel Torme, and Sarah Vaughan, to list a few. His gigs led him to Europe, North Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, Japan, and forty-eight of the fifty states.
Free-lancing in New York City, Stahl played in many commercials including the I Love New York campaign, Nationwide Insurance, Ford Motor Company, and the sports themes for Fox. Stahl performed on Broadway and off-Broadway Shows including playing the Lead Trumpet book of the new 1999 Broadway show Saturday Night Fever. He also played in clubs and hotels in Atlantic City, as soloist with orchestras performing Floyd Werley’s wickedly difficult Concerto for Trumpet, judging many music competitions, and appearing on television shows like The Mike Douglas Show and a live PBS special at the White House. Two accolades include being one of the featured performers in the International Brass Conference tribute to Maynard Ferguson, and being listed in noted jazz critic Leonard Feather’s Encyclopedia of Jazz.
Yet even this list of accomplishments only scratches the surface.. In April of 1977 Stahl formed The Dave Stahl Band so he could follow his own musical interests. His first recording, Anaconda, was full of hits like Dick Lowell’s Jump (For My Love), That’s What Friends Are For, Alan Downey’s arrangement of Saving All My Love For You, and original charts featuring Stahl’s distinctive trumpet and flugelhorn playing. To further record his own band Stahl formed Abee Cake Records in 1987. In 1999 Stahl created the Sacred Orchestra, a 23-piece, plus 10 vocalists, studio orchestra. By the time Covid hit the ensemble had racked up over 270 worship services or concerts of sacred music, along with two recordings. As if this wasn’t enough, Stahl created a Pennsylvania (PA) big band which quickly found themselves doing weekly concerts all around Southeastern PA. Even with the success from his solo ventures, Stahl never stopped freelancing with others. This includes, but is not limited to, spending 18 years touring the world as Liza Minelli’s lead trumpeter.