Featuring on recordings with Tori Holub and James Wilkas has certainly plonked my trumpet playing before many new listeners. Our cover of We’ve Only Just Begun garnered nearly 500,000 views on YouTube within the first 8 months. It has received rave reviews in countless reaction videos, with praise for Tori’s authentic vocal resemblance to Karen Carpenter as well as the high-quality collaborative production led by James. Some of them even enjoyed the trumpets and flugelhorns! 🤣

Close to You is our latest Carpenters cover release, once again showcasing Tori and James’ incredible talents alongside those of our other collaborators. This time, I’m featured in the brief yet iconic trumpet solo. I did my best to channel Chuck Findley, who was himself filling in for Herb Alpert when he recorded the original solo in 1970. Below is my transcription of that tiny solo, which I must admit I put together some time after I recorded it.

For the trumpet players reading this far, you might enjoy Chuck Findley sharing his recollection of playing on the original recording for The Carpenters.

Resources:

• (They Long To Be) Close To You collab video.
• (They Long To Be) Close To You trumpet solo transcription.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.