I’m watching JAZZ by Ken Burns (which is great by the way) , and Wynton Marsalis keeps playing this modern looking trumpet. The mouthpiece appears to be a part of one solid construction with the rest of the trumpet. There also appears to be this plate of brass that runs diagonal to the mouthpiece, widest where he rests his hand, narrowing out towards his mouth.
Why does he play this trumpet? Is it custom made? Who made it? Does it offer him some special advantage in sound, or is it just a nice trumpet?
We’ve been watching the same show, and my S.O. commented on it, saying that it is a practice trumpet-- like mainly for fingering and stuff. . . but he could be full of it, for all I know.
I believe that the horn he’s playing is made by a fella named Dave Monette. Monette even has a page about Wynton Marsalis’ New C Cornet, which might be the instrument in question.
Monette has a line of trumpets, cornets, and a couple of other strange similar things. The AJNA and SHAKTI models seem to be the most ridden with ballast metal - it seems his theory is to “center the sound” with sheer mass.
I have heard great things about Monette horns, but I believe they’re pretty pricey.
I should stop poking through the Monette website after I post. I saw the RAJA page and something clicked in my memory. This horn has an integral mouthpiece, which the OP mentioned, and looks very much like is described.
This horn is essentially customized for the individual buyer, I believe. You go up to his shop in Portland, and he tweaks the intonation and such to match up with your playing characteristics.
I saw an instrument that looked like a trumper or coronet but with a small slide, sounded like it was able to bend the notes a whole step, maybe a bit more.