Some people write to us and say the photographs we post of Harrelson Trumpets could be described at Trumpet Porn. I guess if you're in love with Trumpets... it could be interpreted as such... I prefer to see them as works of art :)
In 1997, Jason Harrelson was living and working out of a one room shop space next to a barber shop in downtown Northfield, MN. He was 22 years old ... at that time he'd finally earned enough tuition to go back to finish his last year of college at St. Olaf after taking a year off to spend time with his family back in Montana. The woodworking business happened accidentally. When he first arrived in Montana he locked himself down in the basement of his parent's house and upon discovering he didn't have a saw to complete one of his first trumpet designs... bought a scroll saw... he was practicing his cuts with intricate designs in wood, which is much softer and easier to cut than brass, and before he ever finished his first trumpet he had several orders for wooden frames, keychains, plaques etc. And College Dreams Woodworking was born. Once back in Northfield ... He and his shopmate, Pete survived on a diet of little more than waffles... made on a mickey mouse waffle maker. They did very little that year except eat, sleep and work on building a business. I still remember the first time Jason told me that story. I thought then, what I think now... that he's a little crazy... in a good way. It's that little bit of crazy that has me sitting here right now. Still. I have known Jason for 14 years. We've been building this business for almost all of those years. Much of the time in the same fashion he and Pete built the woodworking business. By the sweat of our brow... if it's been done at Harrelson Trumpets.... Jason and I have had to do it. Between the two of us we have covered the roles of shipping, receiving, customer service, marketing, merchandising, repair, web design, graphic design, human resources, janitor, electrician, engineer, machinist, trumpet builder, metal finisher, travel agent, photographer, salesman, interpreter, R&D, copywriter, accountant, videographer, sound engineer, I have watched him do so many crazy things to get to this point... that the only thing that surprises me ... is when he does the simple or logical thing. But I have learned after many years of panic... to trust him. Trust that when he says he's going to do something... he finds a way to make it happen... even when it sounds impossible. Especially when it sounds impossible. I think Jason thrives a little on proving he can achieve more than what is believed possible. It is this niche he has carved for himself while immersing himself in a lifelong love... music. You have no idea how many people call or write or stop by and say... "Man... I wish I had your job"... you know what, I'll tell you a little secret... you really do... it's pretty awesome... but it's been a hell of a lot of work... and it still is... Small business is alive and well in America and it still takes a tireless dream or someone who's just crazy enough to keep waking up every morning and go back to it. With little reward. Or, as was the case with our business... no reward at all... for years. When we started out... we were using our paychecks from our other jobs to fund the business. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to strangle Jason for spending money from trumpet lessons or from my job as a store manager... at the hardware store on metal tubing and solder... when our car barely ran. There were so many weeks for years that it felt as if all of our work was for nothing. We would reach what we thought was a plateau just as a machine would break down. We would place an order for tools only for them to be delivered damaged. I remember one month that production stopped because Jason cut his finger really badly. Working from an unheated garage for the first few years all winter in Minnesota made things a little hairy also. But nothing can stop young people with want and determination in their hearts. Nothing. Trust me... I know. 
Pictured above are Jason's first two trumpets. The star design is still one of my all time favorites. I am going to design one like that for myself. I think it's time I have my own Harrelson Trumpet. I've earned it. New Video up today for SWE Trim Kits... I have a creative inlay video project in mind... hope to have time to work on that later this week...  One of my favorite places to see live music in Minneapolis is The West Bank ... it has been a hot bed for indie and blues music for much longer than I've been around. There was a theater there that closed it's doors just last year... The Bedlam... I still remember the first time I went there... I felt as if I had walked through some sort of magical worm hole into a place that was filled with friends that i had yet to meet. I thought... this is where I belong... I just never knew it... The large eclectic mish mash space was frequently filled with happy dancers... gypsies... musicians... that first night i saw the brass messengers march up to the stage... and drank a 3 dollar glass of red wine out of a mason jar... and danced until i couldn't stand anymore... i have seen hundreds of intimate shows over the past few years and the ones i remember the most have all been in one of 4 places on the west bank... the nomad, the cedar cultural center, the bedlam or the triple rock... some nights all 4. I didn't realize until I started going to this small shows... how amazing an experience seeing live music can be when you can literally reach out and touch the musicians.  Which brings me to John Whaley.... John plays on a Harrelson Summit and I just learned he plays or has played with some of my favorite bands... all of which I have seen perform on the West Bank... the world is so vast and yet so tiny...   John currently resides in Portland... but he has roots in Minnesota. He describes himself as a converted classical player... He attended St. Olaf College (as did Jason Harrelson coincidentally) and played in both the band and orchestra there... John's currently touring with Laura Gibson throughout the US and he will be on the European leg of that tour which starts April 3rd in the Netherlands... you can check show dates/locations here: http://www.lauragibsonmusic.com/?page_id=5 John has also played/recorded with a few of my other favorites... Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Portland Cello Project, The Head & The Heart (all of which I have seen this year)... Nick Jaina, Run on Sentence, Pancake Breakfast, Loch Lomond, Y la Bamba and the list goes on... John gig's about 100+ times per year and he's not just a trumpet player... he also sings, plays keyboards and of course Flugelhorn... John is definitely one to watch... and I am excited to hear news from the road... I am really loving the sound of Laura Gibson and can't wait to see where he finds himself next...  There's an excellent write up of Jason's lecture at the ITG Conference last June that I have been meaning to put up here for quite a while... you can link to it directly here: http://www.trumpetguild.org/2011conference/saturday.pdf Having the ITG right here in our own back yard at the Hilton Mpls was such a treat... lots of fun Jam sessions at The Dakota... and a few tours of the shop! We aren't going to be able to make it out to the ITG this year... our focus is here at the shop and expanding to other conferences worldwide. We will be back again in 2013 of course! Here are a few of my favorite photos from this year's conference.        Photo by Andrew Merill/Weekly Dig Boston — at Photo by Andrew Merill/Weekly Dig Boston. I finally had a chance to give Tiger Speak's new album a thorough listen... Harrelson Trumpets Client Jake Baldwin is playing with them and they just released the album a couple of weeks ago... you can get yours here: http://tigerspeakmusic.com/album/tiger-speak the album starts off with a free floating intro that instantly put's you into a groove... budos band-ish groove ... Each track there after builds on the original idea... and I found myself asking aloud to Paul... what does this remind you of? I've pinned it down I believe... there are a lot of hip hop bands coming out of minneapolis on the doom tree label and they regularly do a combined show at first ave called the doom tree blow out... ya... tiger speak would fit right into that event... maybe tucked between dessa and pos... i guess it might sound biased to say the brass lines were my favorite part of the album... but they were... recently i've found myself really loving a local rock band here called chooglin... they are straight ahead rock with trumpets and bones... a really wall of sound ... and there are a few others popping up that marry brass with hip hop or rock... and it adds so much... i also found the vocals on tiger speak reminding me of a tribe called quest... as soon as the album ended i pulled up this track as a matter of fact... to see if i was just imagining it... i think if you squint you can hear tiger speak in this also... tiger speak opening for tribe called quest? i'd go to that show... friend them on facebook and keep an eye on them yourselves...  Jake Baldwin at Church of Boston.  Jake Baldwin Jazz at Church of Boston. 
everything we do here at harrelson trumpets in the way of design serves a purpose. we start with our heads in engineering... but being a creative group of people it's pretty hard to keep from working that r and d into something beautiful. jason once told me it was his goal to make a completely organic trumpet. something that felt as though it was an extension of the human body... as if the player and the trumpet were one... i don't think he's there yet... but he's still trying... 
 I like to keep an eye on all of our clients... if I had it my way... I would be able to know what all of them are working on at any given time. I love watching our instruments travel around the globe... I like the photos of them at mardi gras and on stage with Bob Seger... I like the videos from your recitals and your community bands... the recordings you send my way... watching you all play the star spangled banner for the opening baseball game... there's something really romantic about that... I sort of think of our trumpets like a message in a bottle... thrown out in the ocean... i never know when i will get a message back... in the form of a photo, a video or just a letter saying how things are going. that's my favorite thing about my job. it's also the most rewarding thing about being an artist. i have had the opportunity to deliver in person many of my paintings. i remember one woman in particular that gave me a tour of her house... and had me help her hang them... telling me her dad was going to be so happy to see the images of old las vegas hotels... he grew up in the southwest and was coming to visit her for the first time. anyway... i enjoy this human connection to what we create here at harrelson trumpets. that's what we're all about. making music... making better music... making memories... jake baldwin is one of those memories... that is still being made. i remember the first time he came to visit the "shop" ... in our house in waconia... i was making coffee in the kitchen and i thought... oh another kid coming in for a lesson/try out trumpets... and jake wasn't very old then... i can't remember the exact year... but i remember how he played... i stopped what i was doing and just stood there... to listen... after he left... i just looked at jason and said... how old is that kid? wow... just wow... and we both sorta laughed in amazement :) ... last year at the itg i had the pleasure of watching jake perform in the jazz competition at the dakota....  jake is involved in a couple of projects that he's pretty excited about that i wanted to share with you... he's playing trumpet with this band TIGER SPEAK... and they just released their CD THIS WEEK!  jake's sending me out the album and i will do a proper review in the coming weeks... he's also involved with this band.... THE LOVE EXPERIMENT this is the link to their myspace page... they are also on bandcamp  He plays Flugel in this group... and I love their sound... they'll be on tour this summer with stops to include... new york, philly, atlanta, baltimore, new orleans, houston and more to come...  i am a music junkie... and so there is no shortage of inspiration around here... jake is a big source of inspiration and it's great to watch everything he's involved in... keep it coming ... all of you! it's what this business is all about :)  
like anyone else... some of my days are more fun at work than others... today i played around and made a new promo video for our $500 deposit sale... fun! here's a link to the promo if you're interested I love it when these little notes show up in my inbox... here's one i received yesterday... and on a quick side note... it's sunny and 70 in minneapolis today... yay! Hey guys, It's Myles Potters here, just checking in to say thanks once again for building a great horn for me. So far so good - feeling very acclimated at this point and it's playing just how I'd want it to. No complaints really. I wanted to share with you the videos of my senior thesis recital that I played about two weeks ago with your horn! It really filled up the entire room more than I could have ever desired. The sound was full and it played beautifully. It wouldn't have been the same experience or recital (or the same reception, I daresay) without you guys. ... just know how thankful I am that you made something that makes my self expression as easy as it was that night. Here are the videos in the order of performance: 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4t55KAp6U0 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzy9dM6g174 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4s8FojZWA Thanks again, and hope you enjoy! -- Myles PottersWesleyan University 2012 TheNewConfusion.com |  Jennifer SandquistI am the PR, Advertising, Marketing, Web and Social mind at Harrelson Trumpets. When I am not at work- I paint: ArchivesMay 2012 |
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