Prototype Olds Flugelhorn
Most brass players today know of Irving Bush from his name on
trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn mouthpieces. As celebrated as
his mouthpieces are, they are only one of his many
accomplishments. He had played with many of the top bands in
the 1950s including Harry James and Nelson Riddle and became
Nat King Cole's first choice trumpet player. He played on many
Hollywood movie soundtracks and in 1962, he auditioned and
joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, playing with them for 20
years after which he became personnel manager. He had helped
Elden Benge develop new models and then in the mid-1970s he
consulted with F.E. Olds as well. For Olds he helped design a
new professional line of trumpets in Eb, C and Bb as well as this
flugelhorn. Along with his treasured Benge Bb trumpet, these
were the instruments that he performed on after that time. This
flugelhorn was one of two prototypes that were engraved and
given in appreciation for that service. The other was given to
Bill Peterson. The significance of the turtles engraved on the
bell is simply that Irv would collect turtles when ever he traveled
and came across them. The name: "Big Irv" described neither
stature nor ego, but rather the regard with which he was held by
colleagues and friends. Irving Bush was a very quite man that
was universally respected and loved.
When this flugelhorn went into production, it was called the
Super Star model. One could be excused for thinking that this
looks like a student model flugelhorn (I remember thinking so
when I first saw one in 1978) because it appears to have a
standard trumpet valve section with the slides perpendicular to
the valves. At the time that this instrument was introduced, very
few flugelhorns were available with triggers on the third slide,
and having both the first and third slide mobile was a leap
forward in professional grade flugelhorns. The valve section
appears, at first, to be the same as used in the Clark Terry and
Custom Crafted model trumpets, but it is a smaller, flugelhorn
bore size, .438". The over all length of the instrument is 16 1/4"
(15 3/4" not including the mouthpipe) and the bell diameter is 6
5/8". The mouthpiece shown here was Irv's personal
mouthpiece.
trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn mouthpieces. As celebrated as
his mouthpieces are, they are only one of his many
accomplishments. He had played with many of the top bands in
the 1950s including Harry James and Nelson Riddle and became
Nat King Cole's first choice trumpet player. He played on many
Hollywood movie soundtracks and in 1962, he auditioned and
joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, playing with them for 20
years after which he became personnel manager. He had helped
Elden Benge develop new models and then in the mid-1970s he
consulted with F.E. Olds as well. For Olds he helped design a
new professional line of trumpets in Eb, C and Bb as well as this
flugelhorn. Along with his treasured Benge Bb trumpet, these
were the instruments that he performed on after that time. This
flugelhorn was one of two prototypes that were engraved and
given in appreciation for that service. The other was given to
Bill Peterson. The significance of the turtles engraved on the
bell is simply that Irv would collect turtles when ever he traveled
and came across them. The name: "Big Irv" described neither
stature nor ego, but rather the regard with which he was held by
colleagues and friends. Irving Bush was a very quite man that
was universally respected and loved.
When this flugelhorn went into production, it was called the
Super Star model. One could be excused for thinking that this
looks like a student model flugelhorn (I remember thinking so
when I first saw one in 1978) because it appears to have a
standard trumpet valve section with the slides perpendicular to
the valves. At the time that this instrument was introduced, very
few flugelhorns were available with triggers on the third slide,
and having both the first and third slide mobile was a leap
forward in professional grade flugelhorns. The valve section
appears, at first, to be the same as used in the Clark Terry and
Custom Crafted model trumpets, but it is a smaller, flugelhorn
bore size, .438". The over all length of the instrument is 16 1/4"
(15 3/4" not including the mouthpipe) and the bell diameter is 6
5/8". The mouthpiece shown here was Irv's personal
mouthpiece.
Click on image to see large view.