Veterans & Military Musicians

I did get a reply to my email

Hi Shaun,

Thanks very much for reaching out directly, and sorry for the slow reply — was out of town for a couple days.

We're located in Oakland, California near Grand and Broadway. We're a small team of two selling mostly online through Reverb, so we don't have a brick and mortar storefront with regular hours. But there's a room elsewhere in our building where we can do playtests of about 4-5 instruments at a time. If you're interested, please list some times that would work for you in the next week or two, and which items on our website you want to try out.

I should also mention that for direct purchases from us we only take debit-like payment methods including PayPal Friends and Family, Venmo Friends and Family, Cash App, Zelle, or simply cash. But, we don't collect sales tax in this case.

What do you think? I'm happy to answer any questions here, or you can text or call me at (510) 575-9995. If I don't pick up please leave a text/voicemail/email so I know it was you, and I'll get back when I can.

All the best,
Jimmy
Bay Area Brass

This is directly from their site:
All instruments are sold as-described, which means returns aren’t accepted unless the item arrives in a condition different from how it was described or photographed.
...
Most of our instruments are used or outlet items. Unless stated otherwise, they do not come with warranty.

Not my first choice in business practice. There are enough others that provide service - even on used horns.

I want to be VERY clear with any information on MY website.

I do not know Matt Brockman. We have never met.
I make no claims about the character, personality or history of Mr. Brockman.

I feel that the service he is selling is a scam, or a ripoff, or whatever term you want -- it isn't worth the price he is charging. That is my issue.

I just got hit by one of his youtube ads. Man, this guy knows and has been trained by a lot of fancy people!!

Posted from his web site:
Matt Brockman is a United States based trumpet player, audio/video producer, author, and entrepreneur.

He is a professional trumpet player and is a member of the United States Army Band.

He is the founder and host of Trumpet Legends, a virtual workshop/masterclass series that features the best living trumpet players from all around the world. Some guests include Allen Vizzutti, Wayne Bergeron, Chris Martin, Brandon Ridenour, Gabor Tarkovi, Tom Hooten, and others.

He is the author of the books Trumpet Tone Builders and The Fearless Performer

He has performed with various musical artists throughout the world, such as TwoSetViolin, Christopher Bill, Seb Skelly, Trent Hamilton, Ska Tune Network, and others

Some of Matt's trumpet instructors include: Chris Coletti (Canadian Brass), Joe Mosello (The Maynard Ferguson Band), Peter Bond (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Tom Boulton (New York Philharmonic), and others

I sent them an email. We'll see how he/she/they/them respond.

For the last year and a half, I've been purchasing various horns going on safari. I'm not sure I classify myself as a collector now that I've sampled so many different horns and I've settled more or less on what I will play long term. If I was younger, I certainly wouldn't have done this but my finances are such that I don't have to be a spendthrift anymore. So I buy what I'd like to try and I'll turn around and sell what I don't want. Half the horns I bought were cheap to begin with so I'm not too worried about losing money on them. As for the more expensive ones, the boutique maker instruments are just hard to find and try before you buy. So I'm a bit more frugal about buying several of those. I'll sell the ones I don't want for a reduced price and be happy that someone else will get an opportunity to try these wonderful horns for themselves without having to spend full retail.

I mean, if they only have an email address then there really is no other way to contact them. There are lots of reputable dealers in the USA, if you need suggestions.

I cannot comment on whether this dealer is reputable or not. I have never heard of them until now.

Anybody have experience with Bay Area Brass? www.bayareabrass.com

There is no phone or address. Only an email. I looked through Trumpet Herald, and found an old post on TrumpetBoards discussing safe retailers, but found no reference for this one.

From a post on TrumpetHerald:

Youtube Video

A video has been posted. Skip to 22:07.