Tag: Martin Committee

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Available for purchase Makers - United States Makers - United States - Martin

Martin instruments available

[to be added to and updated regularly]

Cornets [C] Trumpets [T] Flugelhorns [F]

Key: all instruments are in key of Bb unless a different key is specified

Pitch: all instruments are low pitch, unless indicated otherwise. Many instruments in the early 20th Century were supplied with alternate slides allowing LP or HP.

Location: all instruments are located in Croydon 3136 Australia

Instruments by Martin

A short History of Martin brasswinds can be found by selecting “Martin” at https://www.horn-u-copia.net/Reference/display.php

[above] Al Hirt with his Martin

The amazing Martin 50 year guarantee [below]

[above] Martin Committee ad 1948

  • [above] Page from Martin catalog circa 1956
  • [above] Martin LeBlanc catalog T3460

Committee trumpets

  • 1/5 Large bore Martin Committee trumpet in black enamel with gold trim
Martin Committee trumpet – Kenosha Wisconsin Black lacquer – gold plate trim For me, music and life are all about style – Miles Davis
  • 2/5 Medium bore Martin Committee trumpet in blue enamel With gold trim
  • 3/5 Medium bore Martin committee Trumpet T3460

4/5 Martin Committee T3460 trumpet [includes a Martin mouthpiece and a hard shell case]
Beautifully engraved raw brass Martin Committee trumpet
excellent condition
[https://www.vintagebrasswindsaustralia.com/2025/03/15/miles-davis-martin-instruments/ ]

  • 5/5 Medium large bore Martin Committee Deluxe trumpet [below]

Committee alternatives

Various other Martin models are sometimes suggested as alternatives or equivalents to the Committee model. And it would be easy to conclude that amongst Martin Committee users there is a hierarchy of preferences.

Others to consider include –

  • Imperial models, especially Handcraft Imperials
  • large bore Imperials
  • large bore Indiana models
  • reverse leadpipe Handcraft models
  • large bore Martins
  • many Dansant models

For players there are rewarding qualities to discover about Martin instruments.

Magna

  • Martin Magna trumpet in original hard shell case 
Brand: Martin as Wurlitzer 
Type: Magna, [Committee equivalent ] 
Bell Material: Yellow Brass, Finish: Clear Lacquer, Key: Bb, Valve Material: Monel, 
Skill Level: Professional, 
Bore Size: .460, Valves Type: Piston

Martin Magna professional trumpet in excellent condition 
For Martin [RMC and Wurlitzer by the time this was made] the Committee Model evolved into the Magna and was regarded - depending on the taste and idiosyncrasies of the player - as a step up from the Committee.

A great instrument - perhaps with a bit more versatility than a Committee, and extremely easy to live with.
Valves are superb - compression is excellent - the first valve trigger operates, and all slides move as they should.
Comes with the original paperwork, the original Martin/Wurlitzer hard case, and a zip up plastic case cover.
No mouthpiece included - a selection of Martin mouthpieces is available

  • Martin standard handcraft Trumpet – Silver
  • Martin Standard Handcraft Trumpet
  • Martin Handcraft imperial trumpet
  • Martin Handcraft Imperial trumpet manufactured in 1934

This trumpet is from the Handcraft era – the stage that Martin was offering a 50 [Fifty] year guarantee on its brass instruments.

Made late in 1933 this has a reverse leadpipe [which had been on some earlier Martins as well] and is a medium bore [2] instrument.

There is wear on the silver in the normal places [where hands and fingers go]. Valves are in very good condition and have no slack or sideways movement. Bell has a gold wash.

Some restoration was done by Melbourne brass craftsman Don Stewart https://www.brokenwind.com.au/home

An extremely playable trumpet with good valves, good feel, and great [typical Martin] tone.

Engravings are – bell – “Martin Handcraft Imperial Elkhart Ind. USA”; valve block – serial number; 1,2,3; 2; valves – valve number and serial

  • several M bell trumpets [the same bell as the Committee model] with serial numbers dating from mid 1930s to the introduction of the Committee models. A Martin Handcraft Imperial trumpet bell is shown below. The M is placed between the lion’s paws.

serial number: 1317xx – an exceptional professional trumpet – Small wear here and there, one ding on the underside of the bell, about the diameter of a pencil eraser.  No other dings or dents noted; some wear to the lacquer. 

This trumpet is in full working condition. The valves are like greased lightning, and the slides all move fine.  Micro-tuning features on two different slides.

Comes in a Rudy Mück fake crocodile case which is in fabulous condition; it even has the original set of keys. The case is covered with a lined, fitted outer “Shut-tite” brand canvas shell with leather bumpers and metal feet.

Martin cornets – Committee, Handcraft, Standard, Imperial, Indiana, DeLuxe, Magna

  • Martin Committee Cornet

Martin Flugels [Fluegels]-

  • 1 of 2: Martin Imperial – large bore 1950s brass – plays perfectly – could do with a refinish
    Miles Davis played an Imperial Flugel in Concerto d’Aranjuez – the Sketches of Spain collaboration with Gil Evans:

…….. Sketches of Spain, was recorded in late 1959 and early 1960 and features an exceptional adaptation of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, originally written for guitar and orchestra, as well as a gripping Davis performance on “Saeta.” At his most inspired moments, Davis could now manage to draw a primal cry from the horn, a haunting sound unlike anything else in modern jazz. ………… [from Ted Gioia’s The History of Jazz]

  • 2 of 2 – Martin Magna Flugel – near mint with original hardshell case

Martin euphoniums and baritones

  • Martin double belled euphonium

Plenty of patina – but this instrument is in excellent playing condition and it gets a public outing from time to time, once at Port Fairy Folk festival when Havana Palava last played there, and once or twice around Melbourne recently.

The small bell is activated by the fourth valve which brings in a sound and tone very similar to a valve trombone. Great for creating a call and response.

Other Martin Euphoniums – great players – are available

  • Martin Mellophone

Lacquered brass in original hardshell case

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Miles Davis – Martin Instruments

After Miles Davis put down the Vega Power Model trumpet which he had played and endorsed, he switched to playing Martin Committee trumpets, and no others.

Below Miles and Fats Navarro examining his Vega Power Model Trumpet.

Once Miles’ switched to Martin instruments his selection, complete approval, and lasting musical dependence on Martin instruments [in particular the Committee model trumpet]. The switch was notorious and remains a lasting and compelling endorsement by a multiple Downbeat poll winner who – despite the New York times of October 15 1989 labelling him a “Juilliard dropout” was Juilliard Music School trained. [ https://www.juilliard.edu/music ] The NY Times article goes on to relate that the man who made this lifelong musical engagement with the Martin Committee trumpet had dropped out after –

a Juilliard instructor told his class that blacks played the blues because they were poor, Mr. Davis retorted, ''I'm from East St. Louis and my father is rich . . . and I play the blues.'' He found more valuable mentors at the jam sessions at Minton's, a
nightclub where ''the cream of the crop of Harlem's black society'' listened to the incubation of a new music (''In those days you didn't get too big to be sitting in''). So though he continued to examine the scores of Stravinsky, Berg and Prokofiev and studied with members of the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Davis delivered himself into the hands of his own masters, ''Professors Diz and Bird,'' as well as Freddie Webster, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins and others. ''If they smiled when you finished playing, then that meant that your playing was good.''

In 1944, Miles Davis had accepted his father’s idea of studying at the Institute of Musical Arts [later known as the Juilliard School, in New York City]. In 1945, after three semesters, Miles Davis failed to register for the year’s autumn term at Juilliard and dropped out: he wanted to perform full-time. Miles had often skipped classes, and much of his time was spent in clubs seeking his idol, Charlie Parker.

Years later he was critical of Juilliard for concentrating too much on a classical European collection. But he praised the school for teaching him music theory and improving his trumpet technique. 

By the mid 20th century, as Christies, the auction house which handled the sale of Miles’ midnight blue T3640 trumpet at auction in late 2019 [the bidding went to USD$275,000] acknowledges on its website, the demand
for Martin Committee trumpets “was pretty much insatiable”; and – as the website relates – Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis [who tied for first place in
the Downbeat Critics poll around 1955] were huge Martin Committee fans.

When the Martin company was sold and the production of Committee trumpets officially stopped, they continued to be custom made on special order for Miles.
The production of this iteration of the Committee – the T3460 – was by Larry Ramirez, a jazz trumpeter himself: Miles had requested a set of three of these trumpets – one red, one blue, and one black, each decorated with a gilt moon and stars – and Ramirez hand delivered the first two personally to
Davis in the summer of 1981 in Denver. [the Christies website relates the nerves Ramirez felt when Miles handed back one of the horns with the invitation “You play don’t you?” …]

Martin T3460 trumpet available

Now in raw brass, the serial number number 9915XX indicates the “modern” production run which ceased in late 2000s.


The name “Damon” is included on the custom engraving which extends right up the bell beyond the valve block.
The most recent owner – an Australian professional trumpet player said:

.... plays really unique and well.  It's actually a great all rounder.  I love using this instrument not only for improvisational music but also for more classical stuff.  I used it for Aida .... and it was wonderful due to the centred and complex sound it can make. Of course its a great jazz/ commercial /latin horn as well.  The valves are very fast and smooth and the trumpet has excellent response.

He decided to strip it of its Miles Davis “kind of blue” lacquer – leaving it mostly in raw brass. The expressed rationale for taking off the lacquer was to try to darken the tone, and he said he was completely satisfied at the result, which “fixed” the brightness that had been there beforehand. This approach to getting just the sound you want as a player could have come from Miles own father – as mentioned in that New York Times article – 


Mr. Davis's father - an outspoken dentist, landowner, gentleman farmer and sheriff - advised him when he dropped out of the Juilliard School to play jazz, ''You want to be your own man, have your own sound.'' Mr. Davis's sound is the unmistakable constant in his music, the true measure of his disposition, the ultimate payoff of an extremely personal approach to the trumpet.

Except for a little of the original blue in the deep throat of the bell, all “kind of blue” evidence is gone, and this trumpet is now entirely raw brass.  The contrast between blue and the gold plate of the slides has now become the contrast of gold slides, nickel trim, and brass.

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Chicago brass

Wunderlich