Trumpet virtuoso Bobby Shew sent a history of his instrument.
The trumpet started as a weapon of war. It later became a signal/alert tool. This led it to become utilized for fanfare announcements. It then moved into the world of chamber music and then to orchestral music. Next came its’ dominance in military music. After migrating to the western world, it became involved in the early development of jazz and especially in the big band era. This led the trumpet into blues and rock and roll bands, which brought it back full-circle to use as a weapon!
On the other hand, Mr. Shew and two of his colleagues demonstrated a couple of years ago in Prague that the trumpet still has peaceful uses. Shew, Randy Brecker and Jan Hasenöhrl made that clear in the Czech National Symphony Orchestra’s Trumpet Summit program with the St. Blaise’s Big Band. Shew and Brecker are American. Hasenöhrl, a Czech, is chief trumpeter of the CNSO. They play Thad Jones’s “Three in One.†In addition to standard trumpet Hasenöhrl plays two brief high-register interludes on a Bach trumpet. Vince Mendoza is the conductor.
So, we have evidence that the trumpet survived rock and roll.