Originally Posted by rowuk

Rick,
the volumes that come out of the front of a lead trumpet can damage the hearing of just about anybody. If plexiglass baffles help, why not? I did a gig recently with a salsa orchestra and the idiot on the PA smoked me during the first set with the monitor volume - his comment: "it's not a chamber concert on stage". My comment was to put my clip on mike directly on the monitor speaker (HOWL!!!!!!!!!!! mega feedback) and play acoustically until he woke up. None of us are there to get bashed.
Modern trumpets can have a very dense sound that can keep other musicians from hearing themselves. That density is often confused with volume. My second son has a degree in recording arts and they learned about instruments "sharing" certain frequencies and what gets masked in the process.
A cooperative attitude from all sides is the only solution. When a big band is integrated into an orchestra, maybe even a different seating arrangement would be advantageous!