The flugelhorn has become a staple in the jazz brass player’s arsenal. Its large bore and conical tubing make the tone mellower than the trumpet and the cornet and especially favored in ballads and Latin tunes. What the jazz audience may not know is that the flugelhorn was already being used early on in jazz (There’s speculation that Buddy Bolden and other very early jazz players used it, but that’s unproven). There are perhaps half a dozen listings in jazz discographies of the flugelhorn being used by the 1920s (including Freddie Jenkins with Ellington) and, in the 1930s, Jimmy Lunceford’s band was known for using them. However, the most steadfast early individual practitioner was multi-instrumentalist Joe Bishop. Before we get into the details of Bishop’s career, let’s look at the history of the flugelhorn. It goes back a lot earlier than you might suspect.
Like many technological advances, progress in instrument-making actually happened simultaneously in different places. It’s difficult to follow the trail of a process that happened hundreds of years ago and credit for an advancement is often retrospectively given to whoever was the best promoter. Because of this, descriptions of flugelhorn history can be slightly contradictory.
As a general principle, however, we can say that the instrument had ancient Roman roots, was developed by both the British and the Germans
