Brass Bulletin No. 52

Jean-Pierre Mathez

Instrumental technique meets personal reflection as Jean-Pierre Mathez argues that artistic growth depends less on definitive answers than curiosity, exchange and individual paths.

Lawson Horns

Stephan Suter

Walter Lawson built horns by testing alloys, valves and leadpipes with unusual precision, while keeping craftsmanship, musicians and acoustics closely connected.

Pluralism of expression since 1945

Michel Laplace

Bebop, cool jazz, free jazz and neo-classicism transformed the trombone after 1945, as new players, techniques and instruments pushed its boundaries.

Taku Satoh

Western-style brass music entered a once-isolated Japan through unexpected channels, with Salvation Army bands becoming part of a remarkable cultural transformation.

William F. Cramer

A familiar breathing technique becomes a source of resistance and tension, as William F. Cramer argues instead for an open throat and freer airflow.

Edouard Gros

As cinema orchestras vanished and radio reshaped musical life, Edouard Gros learned that survival could mean changing instruments, cities and expectations.

Raymond Fonseque

The trombone’s fixed positions meet the compromises of natural harmonics, as Raymond Fonsèque proposes a different logic for pitch across major and minor keys.

Encyclopédie méthodique — Paris 1795

Anonyme

A 1795 encyclopedia captures brass and wind instruments at a moment when their language, character and expressive roles were understood rather differently.

Jeffrey Agrell

John Clark made the horn a jazz voice on its own terms, balancing improvisation, studio realities and an instrument still fighting to escape classical expectations.

Benny Sluchin

In Nashville, Copenhagen and Metz, trombone workshops took strikingly different forms, exposing the artistic ambitions and practical tensions behind a growing movement.

Albert Hiller

A mysterious three-coil trumpet in Nuremberg defies familiar instrument types, with no maker, date or clear explanation of how it entered a postal collection.

Hans-Joachim Drechsler

As international standards reshape brass playing, musical individuality risks giving way to imitation, leaving tradition, ensemble work and personal conviction at stake.

Jean-Pierre Mathez

A gifted tubist develops an alarming appetite for his instrument, as Jean-Pierre Mathez turns orchestral life into a darkly absurd tale of musical solidarity.

S. W. Lewis Orchestral Horns

Stephan Suter

For Steven Lewis, building a horn begins with playing it: craftsmanship, acoustic compromise and observation shape instruments made for musicians rather than theory.