Rashawn Ross may not yet be a household name, but in the almost 28 years I have made trumpets I have never heard anyone like him; not even close! Rashawn is extraordinarily easy going, and VERY fun to work with - just how he sounds when he plays! He is equally at home playing commercial music or small group jazz, and he makes everything he plays sound like he truly is not working at all! Rashawn ranks right up there with Charlie Schlueter for the ability to play effortlessly, and just like Charlie, the sounds that come out of his horn(s) is almost beyond belief!

Rashawn visited our shop for the first time two years ago with Adam Rapa, and ordered his first Monette trumpet at that time: a new model I dreamt up just for him. To top off the new design, I came up with the new MANDREL #7 LEADPIPE to kick the horn up to the next level.

The new horn is a wide radius, extra lightweight model, with the larger "mid-shank" mouthpiece receiver. It is VERY light, very bright, and the sound is monstrous! Along with Adam's 4 valve "TANTRA" and Ingrid's XLTJ STC, Rashawn's horns have a remarkably easy extreme upper register - as you can hear in the videos on this page. At one point during a visit to the shop, Rashawn was playing on a new custom mouthpiece we had just cut for him, he played an arpeggio up to a triple C, and kept going a third higher to the TRIPLE HIGH E! GOOD GRIEF!

I asked him, half-stunned, if that was really an E over triple C he had just played, and he answered in the most nonchalant voice, "yeah..." Look elsewhere on this page for this video and others, including a video of Rashawn and Adam Rapa comparing notes (!) on how they play the extreme upper register!

Rashawn Ross Plays Dean's RAJA III B-flat - Bebop To "E" Over Triple C!

Rashawn Ross With Adam Rapa Gives A Lesson On How To Play Triple C!

Rashawn Ross Plays The Very First Notes On A New RAJA 3 STC B-flat!

Rashawn was kind enough to agree to do a video interview with me after he received his first Monette trumpet. Since receiving both of his new horns - the lightweight lead and commercial model and the P3 STC variation we came up with just for him - he has performed on live national TV for the Grammy's, live for the season opener of the NFL season and on Late Night with David Letterman.

Rashawn Ross Interview

Rashawn Ross Play-testing His New Custom XLT Trumpet and B2L S3 Mouthpiece

Rashawn Ross Takes Delivery Of His New P3 STC B-flat

Thanks for all the great visits, food and music, Rashawn!

For more information including the tour schedule for the Dave Matthews Band, please visit their website: www.davematthewsband.com

Rashawn's Monette mouthpieces are now available, and simply by word of mouth we have already made lots of them! His sizes:

B2L S3 For lead playing
B2S3 For small group and all-around playing