Tantra
Our 40th Anniversary TANTRA instruments are specifically designed to more effectively convey a musician’s innate receptivity. Even the first Monette trumpets deliberately had some of this quality built into them. Monette serial number #004 was made specifically for Bud Herseth of the Chicago Symphony after he and I drew pictures of how we both imagined the shape of his sound as it expanded into a wider field. This quality was also built into the first Monette trumpets, serial numbers #001, #002, #003, and #005, made for Charles Gorham and Charlie Schlueter. Soon thereafter the same wider sound shape was built-in to Wynton Marsalis’s first Monette. These players all immediately endorsed their new instruments.
Years later, I built even more of this “embrace the audience” shape of sound into an all-new instrument I invented called the “Flumpet,” designed for jazz legend Art Farmer. Now we build different weights and configurations of instruments made with the special bell shape of Art’s Flumpet—as described in the individual instrument descriptions that follow.
UNITY TANTRA XLT
This lightweight trumpet was inspired by the pre-war Martin Committee trumpets that were made with the wider bell taper. This helped jazz musicians in the last century to produce a wider, more encompassing, and more intimate shape of sound. This model Monette instrument provides even more of the same breadth of sound as the old Martins. It has a larger final bell diameter, which produces the widest and most encompassing shape of sound of all Monette trumpets, while still retaining the exacting mechanical qualities, intonation and response characteristics for which all our instruments are known.
The prototype of this instrument was quickly purchased right after it was made by jazz star Ingrid Jensen. Since then, we now have the 40th Anniversary Unity upgrade of this model, available with either a tapered shank mouthpiece, or with a Raja threaded integral mouthpiece. The Raja integral mouthpiece version of this trumpet was just completed for renowned New Orleans jazz artist and educator Longineu Parsons.
UNITY TANTRA P3
Our Unity Raja Tantra P3 prototype was designed and built for Sony Masterworks recording Artist Theo Croker. It was designed to provide the same shape of sound and range of timbre as Ingrid’s original XLT weight Tantra instrument, but with more depth and core to the sound, and more stability of response. These qualities are due in part to the slightly heavier construction.
The name Tantra refers to the wider range of timbre players enjoy playing these instruments, ranging from more expressive softs, to more aggressive louds, and everything in between. With Tantra instruments, the sweet spots of every note are larger, making for a more forgiving feel and providing more room to bend and inflect notes higher or lower from center.
UNITY TANTRA RAJNA-3
This is a sheet braced version of our Unity Tantra P3, which helps lock in the response—making wide intervals feel even more more stable and secure. It is a fantastic instrument for players who perform cutting-edge modern jazz, due to its wide variety of timbre, extreme dynamic range, intimate sound shape, and effortless slotting on every note.