Trumpet “Jazz”cup concepts
So What is a “jazz” cup?
Basically a “Jazz” cup is a cup that gets a good sound and is easy to play high and long. Playing long solos and building energy while playing with a drummer on one tune and then sounding velvety and intimate on the next song is a tall order for a mouthpiece. A “lead” type mouthpiece is too bright, and although many players do it on an orchestral mouthpiece, most of the time a little less cup volume works better.
Jazz cup #1 ("already made")
One of the most famous mouthpieces for jazz players was the Heim 2, and also there was a very similar mouthpiece made by Joe Gustat that was played by Miles Davis. Kanstul makes two versions of the Gustat and they it call it G1 and G2. Those are copies of Miles’ actual mouthpieces. Miles studied with Gustat when he was in high school. Joe Gustat had a Conn trumpet named after him, and was in the St. Louis Symphony. One of the most famous teachers and players of that era.
The Gustat has a short shank, and a small throat and a big long backbore. The Heim #2 is a long shank. The cups are very similar. The Heim and the Gustat both have very unconventional rims, and are very small diameter cups which made them incompatible with most players.
The people that got them to work sounded great though (Later recordings by Enrico Rava ((sweet!)) Wallace Roney, Roy Hargrove and of course Miles. I saw Wallace play at the belly up one time and he could play solos ten minutes long, building like crazy and then wind it right down to pianissimo without hardly taking it off his chops. That was when I decided to see what the Heim was all about. I actually had one at the time but could not play it. Too small.
Too weird. But with a “normal” rim and the correct cup diameter, a player can find it surprisingly easy to play, with a really good jazz sound. The mouthpiece is not shallow, but it has a pretty High alpha angle to give support in the upper register. It’s also NOT a “V” cup. The cup walls have a nice slow curve to them. For a deepish cup it has low cup volume, and gets a smoky jazzy sound. It also works great for piccolo trumpet by the way.
As the cup gets wider, it also gets deeper, and pretty much the whole range of diameters gets the same kind of sound. Choice of rim contours of course. The originals are about .635.
This is a really nice mouthpiece concept. I have these in .635, .645 and .655
About anything could be a Jazz cup of course but the basic concept for a "jazz sound" piece is that its pretty deep, and V shaped. Many times its good to take a piece you like, like a 3c and simply make it a bit deeper and V shaped