250px, Pocket trumpet in B-flat, with a standard size bell and medium-large bore
The pocket trumpet is a B♭
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
that is constructed with the tubing wound into a much smaller coil than a standard trumpet, generally with a smaller diameter bell. It is not a standard instrument in a
concert band
A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion fami ...
or orchestra and is generally regarded as a novelty. It has been used by soloists in
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
(
Don Cherry played the similar pocket cornet) or other ensembles to add flair and variety.
History
The concept of reducing the brass instrument size without reducing the resonating tube length can be seen in several 19th century models of
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a so ...
. ''Pocket cornets'' have been constructed since the 1870s.
Pocket trumpets are sometimes played as auxiliary instruments by soloists in jazz and dixieland bands, as well as for some specific studio recording demands.
Don Cherry's work with the
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Coll ...
quartet is probably the best known example of pocket trumpet playing.
Design and properties
Tonal characteristics and playability vary due to differences in design. There are two basic design approaches to pocket trumpets:
* reduced bell and
bore size design
* standard bell and bore size design.
The models with reduced bell and bore size design originate in 19th-century pocket cornet design and regularly suffer from poor intonation and severely hindered dynamic and timbral range. Regular trumpet mutes cannot be used since the pocket trumpet bell is not a standard size. Models with standard bell and bore size design originally appeared in the US in as late as 1968, mostly following the design of trumpet builder Louis Duda (one-piece hand-hammered "5X" bell, cornet-wound lead pipe, straight-back first valve slide with thumb-throw, fold-back third slide), and manufactured by the
Benge Trumpet company.
Standard features
* Bell Diameter:
* Bore: Medium-Large or Large
* Height:
* Length:
Famous players
"Dirty" Walter A. Kibby II of the band
Fishbone uses a pocket trumpet for all live shows and recordings.
Onetime Elevator/French Toast drummer and former Fugazi roadie Jerry Busher plays a pocket trumpet on The Evens' song, "Competing With The Till", which is on The Evens' ''The Odds'' album.
New Orleans artist Shamarr Allen
plays a Kanstul pocket trumpet with a raised bell in most performances.
Common manufacturers and models
* TRISTAR TR-05 B♭ (India)
* Cecilio (Mendini) 77-MT B♭ (China)
* CarolBrass CPT-3000-GLS-Bb-L (Taiwan)
*
Amati ATR 314I B♭ (Czech Republic)
*
Stagg 77-MT B♭ (Flemish manufacture sold to the world)
*
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...
416 B♭ (Taiwan)
*
Benge Colibri B♭ (United States)
* Kanstul CCT-905 B♭ (United States)
* Weril EP4072 B♭ (Brazil)
References
External links
A virtual museum of vintage pocket cornets and trumpetsPocket Trompete Bb - Sib WERIL EP4072
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pocket Trumpet
B-flat instruments
Trumpets
