Speaking of eardrum-shattering...

...I will never forget a concert I attended in 1986.  Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson performed.  I knew, from listening to his albums, that he played in an extremely high register, hitting double high Cs routinely--and loudly.  I heard how those piercing notes resounded, when amplified, through an auditorium that night.  I wouldn't have been surprised if residents of neighboring streets had been able to hear them perfectly from their front lawns.  Among the best-played (and loudest) highlights: "Central Park," "Sunday Morning," well before it appeared on an album, and Ferguson's cover of "Body And Soul."  (Seriously, listen to a recording of "Central Park" and imagine how loud the trumpet would sound played into a microphone.)  KMOX jazz announcer/programmer "Cactus" Charlie Menees was the emcee, and I still remember his intro.  He said he would have been on the air that night, but "KMOX has a little thing going on called the World Series.  But my heroes have always been musicians, not ball players."  Menees had had a long career as a jazz authority by that time, and I always thought that was a smart way to pump up the audience for an evening of high voltage jazz.