Marsalis's horn on "JAZZ"

Is he just showing off for the camera and he never uses it otherwise?

the monette website has a bunch of pictures of wynton's trumpet and his more recently constructed coronet. (thanks for the tip massvm.) the trumpet has the mouthpiece "built-in" and is decorated in several motifs. both of the instuments pictured are real works of art. i beleive he uses the instruments regularly. he played the trumpet pictured on the website and on "jazz" when i saw him a couple years ago.

The trumpet that Marsalis is playing was specially made for him according to a design he made. Marsalis was concerned that the traditional trumpet mouthpiece and tubing were not sufficiently stiff to transfer all the energy from his embouchure to the horn. Hence, the design he made has a heavily reinforced mouthpiece area which is stiffer. Marsalis says this design allows him to play with more power and less energy (I think that is a fairly accurate quote).

Here's a great article in the Atlantic Monthly that talks about Dave Monette and his instruments: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99nov/9911trumpets.htm enjoy! d