Holton "Jumbo" Trumpet
You might be saying "This guy is more clueless that I realized"
for calling this "Jumbo" rather than "MF Firebird", but I really do
know that story behind this unusual trumpet. "Jumbo" was a
nickname of Al Hirt, who was at the height of fame in the 1960s,
when Leblanc Corporation introduced their Al Hirt model
trumpet, made by the Courtois branch of the company and
marketed under the Leblanc brand. By the early 1970s, a US
made Al Hirt model trumpet was introduced by Holton, another
branch of Leblanc. Also, about that time, Holton's cheif
designer, Larry Ramirez, came up with a trumpet design that he
thought would be ideal for playing jazz, because it has the
normal three valves and also a slide with about 4 positions. This
allows the player to employ trombone like glissandi, smears and
bends as well as adding a few notes in the low register. The first
prototype was retained by the factory and this second instrument
was engraved with the nick name and sent to Al Hirt in New
Orleans. He didn't use it much, finding his more standard Holton
trumpet satisfactory for expressing his musical ideas. Holton then
offered it to Maynard Ferguson, who really liked it and used it
often, to great effect and fame. A decade or so later, Hirt had a
very talented young trumpet player in his band named Larry
Lunetta. Larry was curious about this odd trumpet and with
Hirt's encouragement, picked it up and played some
improvisations on it including the slide. Hirt said that he had
never seen anybody play it so well and gave it to him on the
spot. Larry kept it for another 15 years or so, but eventually
decided to part with it, offering it to me. It's difficult to put a
value on such an instrument, but we made a deal that made us
both happy.
for calling this "Jumbo" rather than "MF Firebird", but I really do
know that story behind this unusual trumpet. "Jumbo" was a
nickname of Al Hirt, who was at the height of fame in the 1960s,
when Leblanc Corporation introduced their Al Hirt model
trumpet, made by the Courtois branch of the company and
marketed under the Leblanc brand. By the early 1970s, a US
made Al Hirt model trumpet was introduced by Holton, another
branch of Leblanc. Also, about that time, Holton's cheif
designer, Larry Ramirez, came up with a trumpet design that he
thought would be ideal for playing jazz, because it has the
normal three valves and also a slide with about 4 positions. This
allows the player to employ trombone like glissandi, smears and
bends as well as adding a few notes in the low register. The first
prototype was retained by the factory and this second instrument
was engraved with the nick name and sent to Al Hirt in New
Orleans. He didn't use it much, finding his more standard Holton
trumpet satisfactory for expressing his musical ideas. Holton then
offered it to Maynard Ferguson, who really liked it and used it
often, to great effect and fame. A decade or so later, Hirt had a
very talented young trumpet player in his band named Larry
Lunetta. Larry was curious about this odd trumpet and with
Hirt's encouragement, picked it up and played some
improvisations on it including the slide. Hirt said that he had
never seen anybody play it so well and gave it to him on the
spot. Larry kept it for another 15 years or so, but eventually
decided to part with it, offering it to me. It's difficult to put a
value on such an instrument, but we made a deal that made us
both happy.
Click on images for larger views.