Descripción: The conclusion to Rafael Mendez's story about his most infamous lip injury.

Descripción: In the third installment of the Rafael Mendez special entitled "The Trumpet," Mendez discusses his amazing finger dexterity and breath control, and then to illustrate these concepts he plays Flight of the Bumble Bee (with a super close-up on his fingers) and an excerpt from The Mexican Hat Dance (played entirely in one breath). Mendez is a tour de force on the trumpet. Anyone who is interested ...

Descripción: In this fourth installment of the Mendez Trumpet series, Mendez plays the virtuoso violin piece Zigeunerweisen. Mendez is in top form, which is pretty amazing considering how much he's already played and how out of breath he is from playing the Flight of the Bumble Bee in one breath just moments before. This piece showcases Mendez's brilliant lyrical abilities as well as his unrivaled technique. T...

Descripción: Another great video of Rafael Mendez. This time an excerpt from his video special entitled "The Trumpet." This is the first song he plays on the special. I have the whole thing so I'll be uploading it all in parts.

Descripción: In this second installment of the Rafael Mendez special entitled "The Trumpet," Mendez begins with discussing the origins of the trumpet and then plays an exceptional rendition of the third movement of the Haydn trumpet concerto. For those of you familiar with this piece it will be a breath of fresh air to hear Mendez's version. This was the first piece written for the keyed trumpet, and Haydn...

Descripción: Rafael Mendez is without a doubt the greatest trumpet player who ever lived. If you watch this video you'll see why. The effortlessness in which he goes through extraordinarily difficult passages is unbelievable. And while still playing majestically and musically keeps his performance from being nothing but technicality. In this video he is performing Jota #2 with the David Rose Orchestra. Ther...

Descripción: Another clip featuring Rafael Mendez and his sons Ralph and Robert. This time on the Art Linkletter Show in 1957 performing the Tre-Mendez Polka.

Descripción: An extra treat for Mendez fans. I'm not sure who's visiting Mendez, but in this rare home video Ralph is reminiscing about his infamous lip injury.

Descripción: The last installment of the Mendez trumpet series. A special treat, Mendez brings out his twin sons Ralph and Robert to play his Tre Mendez Polka.

Descripción: Rafael Mendez was featured in a scene in the film Cowboy starring Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon in 1958. In the scene, Mendez is sitting at the bar in a Mexican cantina playing El Gitano. It's a very beautiful rendition of El Gitano. Too bad he didn't get to play more in the movie.

Descripción: A short clip featuring the one and only Mendez playing Samba Gitana on the Milton Berle Show back in 1951. He's not in top form, but check out those dance moves!

Descripción: This is a brief clip from the film A Holiday in Mexico featuring Rafael Mendez on trumpet. It starts off with a really great cadenza, and then Mendez takes us into the tune The Girl From Chihuahua. Too bad they didn't stay on Mendez for the entirety of the tune.