Western Europe Group

Hi there,

as many of you will know, I started off playing in concert pitch (in Lutheran trombone choir), and then had things like Ab conversion instruments to cope with normal Bb parts, and then painfully re-learnt my fingering for Bb.
I never managed to learn transposing, and usually cope with bringing the correct pitch instrument with me. Now in May, I am supposed to play Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 5 which oscillates between five different trumpet pitches... I simply can't bring five instruments for one gig.
Does anyone have a Bb or C transposed 2nd trumpet part they could share with me?
Would be very much appreciated.

This is more or less very cold coffee. The Vuvuzela became popular during the 2010 soccer world championships in South Africa and took over stadiums during the 2014 champoinships in Germany. For that reason, most vuvuzelas on the market today are in the German national colours, black, red and gold (as can be seen in both videos).

This is copied from a post on TrumpetHerald by user kristiner:

Friends, jazz legend Bobby Bradford has lost his home in the LA wildfires. There's a GoFundMe link below if you're inclined and able to help:

Bobby Bradford is one of the most vital and iconic voices in creative music, a trumpeter, cornetist, bandleader, and composer whose career spans the better part of a century. At 90 years old, Bobby helped to innovative free jazz with Ornette Coleman, changed the landscape of West Coast music in his collaborations with John Carter, and has worked with a staggering cast of artists that spans the likes of Nels Cline, Andrew Cyrille, Johnny Dyani, Vinny Golia, David Murray, William Parker, John Stevens, and countless others.

Sadly, Bobby lost his Altadena home in the 2025 greater Los Angeles wildfires. He and his wife, Lisa, escaped with only the clothes on their backs. Bobby lost his instruments and countless other items of personal and historical significance. This emergency fundraiser fulfills the desperate need to secure this invaluable artist some sense of normalcy in the aftermath of a devastating event.

https://gofund.me/ca058e3d

Karl is a friend of Bobby's, and this fundraiser is legit. Bobby has been a father figure to so many in the LA jazz community. I'm on the board of the California Alliance for Jazz, and we are just about to honor him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for jazz education at the CASMEC conference next week.

So many LA musicians and people in the arts community have had their lives completely turned upside down in the past few days. Please share and support if you can.

I listened to this piece a lot in college. It's fantastic in every way!

@callmekolak SOLD - sorry. Should have locked the thread.

@flugler Nice offer; but I want that special cornet and none else...

Several reasons come to mind...

1. Many professionals have been contracted as Signature Artists - they get paid (sometimes huge sums) to play on a certain manufacturer's horns, and endorse them. Their personal horns are then crafted to whatever specification they prefer. So it may well be that some professionals are playing Committee clones - we just don't know.
2. Many professionals in the past were playing Committees - when they were still being manufactured and readily available Nowadays, full professionals - whose livelihood depends on being able to perform very full schedules - would probably shy away from using an instrument that could not, in case of accident, be readily replaced. There are myriad stories around of professionals' horns getting lost in transit or being mislaid on airports, or being severely damaged by luggage staff (remember Dave Carroll of Sons of Maxwell fame whose valuable guitar was damaged by United Airlines staff, inspiring him to write an appropriate song...
   and several sequels...

@Dale-Proctor Well done!

All went very well...
Except...
They had said, "it's a modern church, with a good heating system". Indeed. But no warning that for climate protection reasons, they only switch on the heating on Sundays.
Yesterday was a Wednesday. Horribly cold, but was happy to have brought my Brand Turbo mouthpiece (plastic mouthpiece which does not get cold)...
Picture wobbly because I shivered so much!

For those interested - I played that gig on my Gaudet/Courtois C, with a #1 Brand Turbo mouthpiece. My partner on 1st trumpet had a Selmer Radial C... very French trumpet section, blended well.

To address the original post, prices are always relative - even for new horns. In the case of a Martin Committee we have several things contributing to the current high price:

limited quantity of playable instruments
high demand based on the supposed magical properties.

Now, magic IS something that CAN happen between a player and his instrument but that is the catch. The player AND the horn need complementary magic to make this investment worthwhile.

I am convinced that any number of manufacturers could recreate the Committee for a lot less money. There is no magic in the brass or skills required to make one. The issue is, that too few people would buy it because they mostly want the myth first and the story behind having one is created later.