For years Art Farmer switched from trumpet to flugelhorn, showing equal facility on both in bands led by Jay McShann, Benny Carter, Dexter Gordon and Gerry Mulligan until he discovered the Flumpet.

"The trumpet gives you more projection than the flugelhorn and the flugelhorn has a warmer sound," says Farmer. "The flumpet mixes both qualities together."

To oversimplify somewhat, the trumpet, with its strident, crackling tone, is a hard bop instrument par excellence, while the warmer, mellower flugelhorn is more suited to contemplative lyricism, so for a while Farmer traveled with both horns in his luggage.

Lately, however, he has taken to playing an instrument capable of showcasing both sides of his talent: the flumpet, a hybrid horn specially designed to combine the powerful clarity of the trumpet with the round, burnished tone of the flugelhorn.