We're excited to post three new videos here that help tell the story of our most complex and involved decorated presentation instrument to date, the Elysian Trumpet. This instrument was commissioned by Irvin Mayfield, founder of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and by Christ Cathedral of New Orleans.
Irvin approached us about producing an instrument for the city of New Orelans as a traveling memorial to victims of the hurricane right after the storm. Irvin's father passed away in the storm, and his body was found on Elysian Fields Avenue - named after the mythological resting place for honored souls.  Irvin thought this to be a fitting name for the instrument, and engraved on the back of one of the braces are the words: "To Irvin Mayfield Sr. - May We Never Forget."
The Elysian Trumpet will be used on tour with the New Orleans Jazz Orchrestra to help raise consciousness around the plight of Katrina victims, and to help educate people about the cultural strength of the city. The Elysian Trumpet fund has been set up to provide funding for concerts and lessons for deserving young musicians. More information on this can be found on the ELYSIAN TRUMPET WEB SITE: www.elysiantrumpet.com
CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN OF THE ELYSIAN TRUMPET
As we started working on this very special instrument, our interest in the city of New Orelans and its unique culture snowballed! The more we learned, the more complex and involved our ideas for decorations and icons became. Tami Dean did all the homework needed to research and draw up the iconography, and she did an amazing job! She then worked with Dean Willoughby and Toshi Kosaka so that her artwork could then be engraved into the instrument.
The largest single item decorating the horn is the 30 or so miles of the Mississippi River inlaid in Sleeping Beuaty Turquoise along the intergral mouthpiece. The river is laid out in painstaking detail exactly as it looks on the map. The direction of the flow of the river matches the direction of the air moving through the horn. 
This intricate inlay work was done by generating a CNC milling program that "pockets" the shape of the river along the comlex curves of the mouthpiece. Then Tami hand-carved 34 pieces of turquoise to inlay in the "pocket." A large, faceted ruby is set at the bend in the river to represent where Elysian Fields Road, Louis Armstrong Park and the Superdome are all located.
There is much engraving and saw-piercing all over the horn, as described in detail in Tami's video tour. The decorative scroll work found all over New Orleans was drawn up by Tami, laid out as points and arcs in the computer, and then programmed into our 4 axis CNC mill to be engraved on the valve casing and on most of the sheet bracing. There are many icons on the horn that are comprised of both engraving and saw-piercing.  The engraving for these symbols had to be generated in a mirror image and indexed perfectly when engraving the back sides of each brace, so that the saw-piercing would line up and look perfect from either side. Given the number of braces on the horn, this one small detail took countless hours of computer time and programming to achieve the desired effect.
The outer bell, decorated with Tami's Elysian Field lilies, was quite a project to construct. We started with an oversize shroud of the correct proportions, drawn and spun.  We then fit the shroud to the horn, and laid out the design to be etched through the metal. Tami and Dave worked after hours at a friend's studio with an acid etcher and lots of patience to achieve the final lilly design. Tami spent days on cleanup, after which the outer bell was refit to the horn. Spiral shaped "hurricane" soundposts connect the outer and inner bells. The number and size of soundposts was determined by long hours of play-testing, placing one soundpost at a time and checking for the resulting sound and response changes.
 The Elysian Trumpet could not have been made without countless extra hours of hard work by all our employees. We stretched our techniques and abilities to the limit, and came up with the best playing and sounding Monette instrument ever made!
We'd like to thank Irvin Mayfield, The Reverand David duPlantier, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Stewards of the Elysian Trumpet for trusting us with this amazing project!
Elysian Trumpet Photo Gallery
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Tami Dean, Dave Monette and Irvin Mayfield at our shop just before Irvin’s concert. |
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Irvin right after he played the first few notes on the horn… he was pretty excited! |
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The Elysian Trumpet |
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Mardi Gras colored inlaid finger buttons, custom made by Dave Monette. |
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Irvin meeting the crowd and showing the horn after the concert. |
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Irvin playing to the crowd... |
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Shouting the Blues on his new horn... |
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Tami’s version of the Mississippi River in turquoise along the mouthpiece. |
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The Very Reverend David Allard duPlantier, Spiritual Warden of the Elysian Trumpet. David is the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans. |
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Karen Hangsterfer, Dean Willoughby, Charmaine Neville and Gretchen Willoughby at Snug Harbor in New Orleans. |
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The engraved dedication to Irvin’s father, who perished in the hurricane. |
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Irvin playing for Mayor Nagin and the crowd at the second anniversary memorial service for Katrina victims in New Orleans August 29, 2007. Tami Dean, Dave Monette, and Dean and Gretchen Willoughby were Irvin’s guests at this event. |
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This is one of several blanks in various diameters we made
to cut and place the instrument’s soundposts.
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Two Deans: Tami Dean and Dean Willoughby with the new instrument at Snug Harbor between sets. Irvin plays weekly there on Tuesday nights, and it was standing room only! |
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Tami Dean doing her magic on the outer bell. |
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Irvin, Dave and Tami were interviewed by the Reverend Al Sharpton on his national radio show on August 29th. |
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Tami, Dave and Irvin were interviewed for over an hour on WWL by well-known New Orleans media host Garland Robinette. |
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Some of the hand drawn and CNC milled engraving on the Elysian Trumpet. |
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The large, faceted ruby set into the mouthpiece at the location of the Superdome, Elysian Fields Avenue and Louis Armstrong Park before the turquoise river was inlaid. The channel for the river was “pocketed” on the CNC mill, and is an exact representation of 30 miles of the Mississippi River. |
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