This is a work in progress. If you have information about the horns and mouth pieces that Art used, please contact us.
Trumpet: Martin Committee Trumpet
Flugelhorn Original Kanstul 1525 designed by Flip Oakes
Flugelhorn Kanstul Burbank with Copper Bell – Art’s name is etched inside
Dimitri Matheny owns this horn now (yr 2001). Dimitri tells this story: “The two (Art Farmer and Zigmat Kanstul) of them cooked up this idea to use the valves he liked from one horn, the lead pipes from another and the bell from another. They basically put together this Frankenstein monster of a flugelhorn that I now play.
What they came up with is something with a really rich, beautiful tone, but it has a lot of strange intonation issues. It’s hard to play it in tune. It’s not just pick up and play… I keep it clean and pay attention to the valves. I had a little body work done recently just to take some dings out and improve the intonation.”
Flugelhorn: 50’s French Besson Brevette with English Besson valves Made in France with a number 4 mouth piece – this was Art’s favorite flugelhorn
“You can try 10 different #4’s and each will sound different. A mouthpiece is just a thing that connects the musician to the horn. It has to fit just right. You can spend your entire life looking for the perfect mouthpiece. I know guys who do. It’s better to spend your time looking for the perfect notes.” Art Farmer — Downbeat 1988 [see more quotations from Art Farmer]
Flugelhorn: a large bore Benge
Flugelhorn: Cuesnon
Mouth pieces: Al Cass Flugel mouth piece
Trumpet: David Monette
Flumpet – designed by David Monette for Art Farmer. It is a cross between a trumpet and a flugelhorn.
Decorated Flumpet – Monette B7 F (F for Farmer) designed by David Monette and his staff for Art Farmer
Art Farmer started performing on the flumpet in 1991. His original instrument is stored at the Monette shop. This instrument is his second flumpet and was presented to him on March 10, 1997, in Portland, Oregon. The saw-pierced images were all done by goldsmith Tami Dean.
Here is a list of the images on Farmer’s horn:
- A tenor saxophone, representing Clifford Jordan and Benny Golson
- A double bass, representing Art’s brother Addison
- Sheldon the cat – Dave Monette’s cat that is represented on many Monette instruments
- A trumpet bell with lightning bolts, firecrackers, and diamonds coming out of it, representing Louis Armstrong
- A fedora near the Louis Armstrong image, representing Roy Eldridge
- Dizzy Gillespie (with beret and sunglasses, and signature puffed cheeks and bent-up trumpet bell)
- A Brownie camera, representing Clifford Brown
- Miles Davis, in his signature posture with bell pointed downward
- A plunger, representing Cootie Williams
- A woman’s dress, representing Fats Navarro and his nickname ‘Fat Girl’
- An Edison lightbulb with a Hershey’s Kiss inside of it, representing Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison
- Inlaid turquoise from Arizona in the finger buttons. (Art Farmer lived in Arizona as a child.)
- Inlaid turquoise from Arizona in the shape of a river on the bottom valve caps. (Art lived near the Rio Grande.)
- ‘K.D.’ for Kenny Dorham
- A mustache, representing Clark Terry
- A book with a letter L, representing Booker Little
- An acorn, representing the younger generation of Jazz musicians
- The original mouthpiece had the constellation of Leo (Art’s zodiac sign) represented in small diamonds.
A video tour of Art Farmer’s flumpet:
And here is another video tour regarding the flumpet.
The Monette Corporation has produced over 100 flumpets for musicians all over the world that are used in a variety of genres. One is on display at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota.
Many thanks to B.J. Cord, Customer Relations Manager at the Monette Corporation for providing information on the flumpet.