The Martin Committee was a line of band instruments, including trumpets, cornets, fluegelhorns, trombones, and saxophones. The name originated in the mid-1930s and was used until 2007. The Martin Committee trumpets and saxophones were favorites of jazz musicians.

Trumpet

The Martin Committee trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

 was originally designed in the late 1930s for the Martin Band Instrument Company

Martin Band Instrument Company

The Martin Band Instrument Company was a musical instrument manufacturer in Elkhart, Indiana.-John Henry Martin and the first Martin company:This company was actually the reappearance of a previous company. John Henry Martin The Martin Band Instrument Company was a musical instrument manufacturer...

 by a "committee" of diverse players and teachers.

The first advertisement for the Martin Committee ran in the December 1, 1940 issue of Down Beat

Down Beat

Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...

. It listed the committee as follows:

• Fred Berman, popular radio staff star, probably the busiest trumpet player and teacher in Boston.
• Otto Kurt Schmeisser, formerly with the Boston and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, later a successful teacher in Detroit.
• Jimmy Neilson, Band Director and Instrumental Instructor, Oklahoma City University - an outstanding trumpet and cornet artist.
• Dana Garrett, formerly cornet soloist of the Sousa Band - now first trumpet, Capitol Theatre, Washington, D.C.
• Renold Schilke
  Renold Schilke
  Renold Otto Schilke was a professional orchestral trumpet player, instrument designer and manufacturer. He founded and ran Schilke Music Products Incorporated, a manufacturer of brass instruments and mouthpieces.-Youth:...
  
  , one of the most highly skilled artists in America, first trumpet with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
• Charlie Spivak
  Charlie Spivak
  Charlie Spivak was an American trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his big band in the 1940s.-Biography:...
  
  , rated "tops" by everybody who knows - now heading his own fine combination.

Some have said that the Committee consisted of brass instrument makers Renold Schilke

Renold Schilke

Renold Otto Schilke was a professional orchestral trumpet player, instrument designer and manufacturer. He founded and ran Schilke Music Products Incorporated, a manufacturer of brass instruments and mouthpieces.-Youth:...

, Vincent Bach

Vincent Bach

Vincent Bach was a musician and instrument maker, who founded the Vincent Bach Corporation.- Vincent Schrotenbach :...

, Elden Benge

Elden Benge

Elden Eugene Benge, born July 12, 1904 in Winterset, Iowa, was the principal trumpet of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1928–1933; he held the same position in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1933-1939. After moving to Chicago he began to experiment with designing his own trumpet, taking...

, and Foster Reynolds

F.A. Reynolds

-Life:Foster Reynolds was born December 29, 1884, was married twice and had three children. His first Marriage to Frances Dean at the age of 18 lasted 31 years before ending in divorce. His second marriage to Myrtle Rozelle in the late 1940s lasted the remainder of his life...

. It is highly doubtful that either Bach or Benge would have helped the competition, as they were advertising their own instruments in the same magazine.

The horn became widely adopted in jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 music because of its warm, rich sound and flexible intonation. They have a unique sound that has been described as "dark and smokey".

Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 played custom-made Committees throughout his career. Other notable players include Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, Clark Terry

Clark Terry

Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...

, Chet Baker

Chet Baker

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...

, Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...

, Lee Morgan

Lee Morgan

Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...

, Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...

, Art Farmer

Art Farmer

Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...

, Wallace Roney

Wallace Roney

Wallace Roney is an American hard bop and post-bop trumpeter.Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from 1985 until the latter's death in 1991...

, and Chris Botti

Chris Botti

Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video...

.

When Martin was purchased by Leblanc

Leblanc (musical instrument manufacturer)

Leblanc, Inc. is a musical instrument manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin.The company was purchased on 1 August 2004 by Steinway Musical Instrument Company, which now operates Leblanc as a division of its Conn-Selmer subsidiary.Leblanc inc...

, the original Committee design was discontinued and a new instrument carried the name. These horns were produced until 2007, when the Martin brand was dropped by Conn-Selmer

Conn-Selmer

Conn-Selmer, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of concert band, marching band, and orchestral instruments. It is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed after Steinway bought musical instrument manufacturers The Selmer Company and C.G. Conn.-Founding:In the late 1800s,...

who had purchased Leblanc in 2004.

Vintage Martin Committee trumpets are highly sought after. Medium-bore versions from the 1940s-1960s frequently command well over $2000 on the popular online auction site. The large-bore versions often sell for over $3000.