Erik Truffaz, already mentionned is one of my favourite "new " trumpet players. The combination of trumpet and Rhodes sounds great and like NPM he has one foot into elctronic music.
Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"
So many Trumpet players from New Orleans its silly, each with their own flair. I love the instrument. Very powerful and sublime .
Mute.
Nobody has ever wielded a mute as effectively as Miles. You don't hear it much anymore. Was commonplace during the swing era.
Arve Henriksen, my favourite trumpet player, period.
Coincidentally, am reviewing a first time on DVD issue of Randy Brecker Quintet, Live at Sweet Basil 1988. Aside from having two bonus tracks that the original LP and CD did not (nor are they included on the included single CD that comes with the DVD), it's germane in that Brecker is, indeed, a trumpet player who continues to use a mute, albeit not as often as Miles did (and, as great as he is, it's not as signature to his sound as it was Miles, to be sure).
Just wanted to point out that Brecker is, indeed, a contemporary trumpeter (going back to other releases issued since this stellar 1988 show, you can find him also using mute on some of those as well) who uses a mute and, in fact, a Harmon mute similar to that which Miles employed. I also think that Wallace Roney, who was a Miles protege and has certainly been carrying that particular torch, also uses a mute...albeit, again, not as often nor as a signature part of his sound.
No doubt, few trumpeters could use a Harmon mute to make their horn so fragile, so vulnerable, and so vocal as Miles. But did want to point out that there are, indeed, some contemporary players who still use a mute on occasion. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that the younger firebrand, Christian Scott (now known as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah) uses one...I've seen him a couple times, though it was a few years back, and I'm almost certain i heard him using one also.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
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