Alan Civil may be the most widely heard horn player on the planet. Not because of any fame in the horn world, but because of his squeaking high (yet very controlled) solo in the Beatles song For No One on their 1966 album Revolver. I found that the solo itself outlines an F# major arpeggio, and goes up to a high D# above the treble staff. Civil's playing is ridiculously controlled, quiet, and smooth despite the register.
Civil was called upon by Abbey Road Studio engineer Geoff Emerick because, in Emerick's words, he was "the best horn player in London." As a student of Aubrey Brain (Dennis Brain's father), one would expect no less.
Civil also played in the orchestra used in A Day in the Life, another famous Beatles song at the end of their landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. According to Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Revolver stands at #3 while Sgt. Pepper stands triumphantly at #1. Way to land a gig, Alan...
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