November 11, 2007
MONETTE DECORATED PRESENTATION FIELD TRUMPET DELIVERED TO BAA's TOM DAY!
Marine Bugler Tom Day, the founder of Bugles Across America, received his decorated presentation Monette Field Trumpet today in time for Veteran's Day activities in the Chicago area where he lives. Tom is the only living American to have served in all five branches of the U.S. military, and his work with BAA is legendary.
The goal in building this instrument was to produce the best sounding and playing field trumpet possible, and to have the instrument visually as well as musically celebrate America's veterans and their families. More details and pictures to follow very soon in our Fall 2007 online newsletter.
August 27, 2007
Irvin Mayfield picked up his Katrina memorial decorated SAMADHI this weekend and played a private concert for us that we will never forget! More details coming soon...
At the left, Irvin Mayfield shows President George W. Bush the Elysian Trumpet.
July 27, 2007
FINGERBUTTON CONTEST WINNERS!
Thanks to the 870 of you who entered our raffle for a free set of finger buttons or a free Monette mouthpiece. Mark Rapp is the finger button winner! Mark plays an AJNA Bb, and is very active on the jazz scene in New York City. Downbeat magazine included him in their June 2007 "Trumpet" issue as one of their top 25 Emerging Artists. Mark's favorite fingerbuttons are the "Complex Mosaic" buttons we made for Patrick Hession, and we will make him a set similar to these. Congratulations Mark!
Michael Paul is the winner of the free mouthpiece. He is a working musician who plays on cruise ships. We look forward to getting him his choice of whatever size Monette mouthpiece he would like. Congratulations Michael!
Tami Dean, our co-worker who helps us build the elaborate decorated presentation instruments we build picked the winners from the 870 entries. Thanks for the help, Tami! Watch for the latest creation we have made with Tami coming soon to our online Fall 2007 Newsletter.
Scotty Barnhart's new inlaid fingerbuttons, made just last week and delivered with Scotty's new PRANA AJNA Bb.
July 20, 2007
SCOTTY BARNHART'S NEW PRANA AJNA!
Jazz trumpet great Scotty Barnhart played a private concert for us at our shop this week, and he just about blew the walls down with his new PRANA AJNA Bb! A crowd of almost 200 made for a standing room only performance as we were treated to over 2 hours of non-stop, hard swinging small group jazz.
We will have more on this concert - including video clips and a video interview with Scotty - posted in our upcoming FALL 2007 ONLINE NEWSLETTER, coming soon.
Thanks for the swinging tunes and the great hang, Scotty!
May 23, 2007
Monette client Byron Bartosh will be performing 'Taps' at the start of the Indianapolis 500 race this Sunday on his new Prana 3 Bb. It will be televised live worldwide on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC @ 12:30 pm EST.
May 8, 2007
"THE ONE AND ONLY MAYNARD FERGUSON" MAYNARD'S FINAL CD IS NOW AVAILABLE
Maynard Ferguson's final CD was just released, and is now available directly from the Maynard Ferguson Trust WEB site: www.maynardferguson.com
Recorded in July of 2006 (only weeks before Maynard's passing), The One and Only Maynard Ferguson is Maynard's final studio recording. The musicians on this album are a collection of old friends and alumni from Maynard's amazing career, and include Monette client Patrick Hession playing lead trumpet on many of the charts. Dave Monette was in the studio with the band on the first day of their session.
Thanks for all the great music and the outrageous hangs, Boss...
May 2, 2007
"BLAST" STAR ADAM RAPA INSPIRES A NEW MONETTE TRUMPET MODEL
AND TWO NEW MOUTHPIECES!
Adam Rapa is well known as the star of the Tony and Emmy Award winning Broadway show, "Blast!" He has performed over one thousand shows with the company thus far, both on a U.S. National tour and in Japan. Adam has been a Monette mouthpiece client for years, but last year when he was asked to be a featured soloist for the 2007 National Trumpet Competition in Washington D.C., he decided it was time to order his first Monette instrument - hopefully to be delivered in time for that performance.
In working with Adam, we found he sounded fantastic on our MF PRANA for his lead playing, but he also sounded great on the larger and heavier PRANA 3 Bb for his small group jazz and classical work. Hearing Adam play the two horns back to back, Dave decided to make him a new horn... one with the richness and density of the heavier PRANA 3, but with the extra "sparkle" and "zip" on the edges of the sound that Maynard’s horn is known for.
Adam picked up his new horn on a Tuesday afternoon, and flew out the next day for the National Trumpet Competition performance! By all accounts he wowed the audience with his virtuosity and command of the music. One of the pieces he played was his own 7/8 arrangement of the "Flight of the Bumble Bee" (Please see video clip sample below).
Adam's lead mouthpiece is actually a new "SLAP" model Dave designed for Adam about a year ago. When Dave Monette played Adam's new PRANA "SLAP" STC-2 weight lead mouthpiece on Adam's new horn just prior to delivery, he found it had the easiest double C of any large bell Monette horn and mouthpiece configuration he had ever played! Dave also came up with a new small group jazz and classical PRANA "SLAP" STC-3 weight mouthpiece for Adam, which has a huge sound in the middle and low register but still retains some fire above the staff. You can hear Adam play both these new mouthpieces plus a FLUMPET cup trumpet mouthpiece in the third video clip below.
We hope you enjoy the video clips posted here of Adam on the new equipment. Thanks for the inspiration for the new models, Adam!
Adam Rapa playing some of his 7/8 arrangement of "Flight of the Bumble Bee" just half an hour after he took delivery of his new PRANA P3S Bb, March 2007.
Adam playing his new instrument at our shop April 2007.
Adam demonstrating the versatility of his new horn by using his new STC-2 PRANA "SLAP" lead mouthpiece, his new STC-3 PRANA "SLAP" jazz mouthpiece, and his PRANA STC-3 FLUMPET-cupped trumpet mouthpiece.
April 1, 2007
SPECIAL APRIL 1ST ANNOUNCEMENT: THE MONETTE OCTAV-EYE-ZER!
If you have been looking for a way to improve your upper register and really "zero-in" on those troublesome high notes, consider our special April 1st edition Monette "OCTAV-EYE-ZER." For a demonstration of the effectiveness of this revolutionary invention, check out the following video clip!
January 23, 2007
NEW PRANA C TRUMPETS AND AN ALL-STAR CONCERT AT OUR SHOP!
When Urban and Joakim Agnas decided to come over from Stockholm and pick up their "NEXT GENERATION" PRANA LT and XLT C trumpets, word of their trip spread quickly!
Charlie and Martha Schlueter were the first ones to decide to join the party, then within a day or so Mike Thompson and his co-worker Pablo from Thompson Music bought their tickets. Then we realized that we couldn't have a real party without Ron Miles and Patrick Hession in attendance, and they signed up for the event!
Adam Rapa from Seattle had never played a Monette trumpet in performance before, and with his first horn about to be delivered he decided what better time to come sit in?
Dave Bamonte and Jeff Work from the Oregon Symphony joined Charlie and Mike Thompson for some chamber pieces and an orchestral demonstration or two for the audience of about 100. Ron Miles topped off the evening with some spectacular small group jazz with the Gray Hobbs Trio, with Urban and Adam Rapa sitting in. On the break between sets, Jeff Work treated us to his "Tijuana Brass" rendition of the posthorn solo from Mahler 3, and just about brought the house down!
It must have been time for a party and a fantastic concert, because that is what we got! More on this spontaneous combustion of great players at our shop will be posted soon as we get our all-new Winter 2007 Online Newsletter finished up... stay tuned for more pictures and some great video clips too!