Todd Explores the Versatility of the Difficult French Horn

The French horn, that spiraling, slightly unwieldy instrument that a musician seems to cuddle as he plays, has a reputation as the most difficult of all orchestral instruments. It makes only infrequent appearances in jazz ensembles, usually for its tonal color, rarely as a lead.

But Richard Todd, the longtime French horn player with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, is intent on bringing the horn into the front line of jazz bands. From the first growling, New Orleans-inspired notes he played Sunday before an audience of some 400 listeners in the Queens Salon of the ocean liner Queen Mary as part of the Da Camera Society’s Chamber Music in Historic Sites concert series, Todd, working in front of a jazz rhythm section, made it clear that he was redefining his chosen instrument’s role.

Fearless in his attack on bebop, hard-bop and R&B-styled; material, Todd utilized his instrument’s strengths--namely its burnished tone that falls somewhere between trumpet and trombone--while not always overcoming its difficulties. This was especially true in the first set, when his articulation on up-tempo numbers such as Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud” was less than precise.

All that changed in the second set when Todd emerged to play his punchy, mid-tempo piece “Central Avenue Strut” with confident accuracy. Employing a strong sense of melody and a little mischief, Todd produced the kind of improvisation expected of the best jazz brass players.

The old question of whether classically trained musicians can swing never arose here. Todd’s fine sense of phrasing--extremely patient in ballads, frantic and prone to chance-taking at the fastest tempos--was never stiff. He seemed to find the right sound for every mood, using his fist tucked inside the bell of his horn to control the instrument’s timbre.

Complemented by lush, rhythmic accompaniment from pianist Billy Childs, the scurrying bass work of Andy Simpkins and drummer Ralph Penland’s sensitive percussion, Todd’s performance made a convincing argument for the French horn as jazz vehicle. The only question remaining at the end of the afternoon was if there’s any other French horn player capable of the feat.