Review: Yamaha Commercial Trumpet

It’s well-balanced and relatively lightweight and comes with nicely engineered ergonomic tuning slides and a reverse lead pipe. Mother of pearl finger buttons sit atop the Monel valves in a slightly smaller than normal one-piece valve casing. The bell, too, is a little slighter than that of the house Taylor.

Fitting the supplied Yamaha mouthpiece, we were treated to an extremely free-blowing horn with minimal resistance, due in no small part, we suspect, to that reverse lead pipe. Though the sound was quite tight, the overall tonality was warm and mellow. However, the Commercial is easy to push and when challenged emits a classic big, brassy tone. The intonation was spot on, too. This instrument has a good range and handles dynamics well. It sits comfortably in the hand and the Monel valves are a dream to play through.

The Commercial comes in a denier covered rigid case with a quality YKK three-quarter zip. Within is a pre-formed, plush-lined interior featuring a large accessory compartment and a separate mouthpiece pocket. It has a full-face zippered score pocket and carries tough, hinged nylon grab handles to both the top and side panels. There’s a padded harness in the rear zippered compartment and a shoulder strap secured with heavy-duty nylon ‘D’ rings. Hard-nylon feet to the base and side panels complete the picture.

We were amazed to discover this model retails at a street price of around £1,700 (our original guesstimates were in the £2,000-plus bracket), which in our book makes it incredibly good value for money. So, if you’re looking for a horn that can hold its own in both small combos and big bands, try the Commercial. We think you will be pleasantly surprised by what it has to offer. David Gallant

Further information www.uk.yamaha.com