TAKE FIVE: 76 trombones + 4 concert

Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 | 7:41 a.m.

What: 23rd annual 76 Trombones + 4 Scholarship Concert

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall

Tickets: $10 general admission, $5 for seniors, children under 12, students and military;

739-3267.

Comedian and former drummer Cork Proctor is trumpeting a trombone performance to be held Sunday at UNLV - the 23rd annual 76 Trombones + 4 concert.

"I don't do many charities anymore," said Proctor, 75, a long time supporter of UNLV and emcee for the afternoon performance. "This ... is one of the few things I can do and see some positive response."

Ken Hanlon, the event organizer, is one of those responsible for the concert's creation and continuation. He is director of the Arnold Shaw Popular Music Research Center at UNLV and head of the International Trombone Association.

Hanlon has been in Vegas since 1968, arriving here with Si Zentner, orchestra conductor for "Folies Bergere." He performed on the Strip until live music began to fade away. Among those he became friends with was trombonist Abe Nole, who died in 1985.

Proctor gives five reasons to go to the concert:

1. The number

"For kids, it's wonderful. Take them, even if they're not sure what they saw. It's pretty unique - 50 or 60 or 70 or 80 of anything, whether clarinets or bassoons ."

2. The instrument

Experience the sound of one of the most unusual instruments, times 76-plus. "The trombone is, by definition, a bastard instrument. It's hard to play, hard to keep in tune and it has a big spit valve, and so forth and so on. I hear this from the pros, and I've known a lot of trombonists all the way back to the '50s and '60s."

3. The players

You hear some of the greatest trombonists from all over the world, 75 or 80 or more, all on the same stage. This year you'll hear Jim Pugh and Eijiro Nakagawa, first -call trombonists in New York and Tokyo. Composer/arranger Connie Atkinson will conduct. Bass trombonist Donn Schaefer, professor of music at the University of Utah, will be a guest conductor and perform a solo.

4. The money

Admission is cheap and the money goes to a worthwhile cause: underwriting scholarships for the UNLV Department of Music. More than $100,000 has been generated by the event . The musicians aren't paid and most pay their own way.

5. The tradition

You can learn about Las Vegas music traditions and the history of the concert, which began as a one-time event to honor the memory of trombonist Abe Nole when he died in 1985. There were 80 trombones at the first concert - thus it's dubbed 76 Trombones + 4.