| That instrument is an unbelievable find!!!
It has an extraordinary history that has to do with, if all things, a race horse, and the Kennedy assassination.
It's not made by Cliff Blackburn. Rather it was made by Dimitrius "Buzz" Blackburn, a distant member of the family Cliff doesn't like to talk about. So the story goes, he was the original trumpet maker in the family but only made one instrument. The serial number was an arbitrary one he made up although it was the only one. It is not made of brass but a polymer that was on loan to him from an associate that worked at a government agency.
Essentially it was stolen.
The government agency? NASA. In 1962 it was decided that the use of this polymer would be discontinued but remain classified as it was something the Russians were extremely interested in. It was a very unique quality when gently struck: This polymer wouldn't give off a single tone but several in quick succession. In other words, the entire harmonic series would be heard as an arpeggio, separate tones, instead of a single note such as you could get when you gently strike the bell of your horn. No metal would produce this effect, only the polymer. It was supposed to have been used in the Mercury space program when an inter-agency battle began between the CIA and NASA. Both wanted it but for different applications. I shudder to think what might have happened had it fallen into the wrong hands as it's unique acoustic properties would have wreaked havoc with any sonar system presently in use by our navy.
Kennedy saw its potential and the danger. He was going to issue an executive order calling for its destruction when this scrap came into the hands of... yup, you guessed it... Buzz Blackburn who worked at NASA since its inception. He knew the ramifications of this gem of a material and the possible abilities of a consecutive-harmonic trumpet. He would have made millions and all he had to do was sell one. He had many tests done that analyzed the materials that went into the polymer and knew he could duplicate it.
That was October of '63. The executive order from the president was being drawn up and ready to be issued when NASA noticed the missing pieces of the polymer. Blame was flying everywhere and the CIA was fit to be tied. Where was it? Buzz had worked night and day to trn the polymer into a trumpet. The finishing touch was a faux-silver finish made to look as though the horn was plated to the uneducated eye. In November, the president was assassinated and the executive order never made.
To my knowledge the instrument has only been played at the Kentucky Derby by the bugler, Molarian Courley. Courley was an eccentric who made a tremendous amount of money distilling and selling some of that famous Kentucky Bourbon you've heard about and was just about the only trumpeter who could afford it. Independently wealthy, he loved to play the call at the race track and never missed a note. Never.
Now we know why. You could look it up.
Or it could just be a typo, I'm not sure.
EMMEL |