To create his Z models, Yamaha worked together with the legendary trumpet player Bobby Shew. Being such an incredibly versatile musician, Shew needed a very efficient instrument with which to stand out in the high register and at the same time be able to play softly and sweetly. Thus was born the 8310Z.
Bobby Shew
This brilliant trumpet player from Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA) is one of the icons of trumpet and jazz. He is also considered an influential educator, although paradoxically, his training has been self-taught (something he confirmed in the interview we did here at Trumpet Magazine). He soon worked with Woody Herman and Buddy Rich until 1972, when he moved to Los Angeles and began recording in studios and playing jazz, both in big bands and small groups. Since then, Bobby Shew has performed and recorded with the jazz world’s elite, has won awards (and 3 Grammy nominations), and above all, has earned international recognition.
8310Z Features
Being the 8310Z a lightweight trumpet, it has a couple of features that make it very special:
First of all, the bell. It is one of the largest that Yamaha makes for its trumpets, with a diameter of 5 inches (127 mm), and is handmade. The decreasing thickness of the metal makes its response incredibly fast, but at the same time, gives you a sense of control and security throughout the register.
Secondly, the step bore. Many say that the step bore that has the 8310Z is the biggest secret of this trumpet. We have verified that it has a diameter of 0.445 inches (11.30 millimetres) and that it is probably crucial in the efficiency of this instrument.
Generally speaking, it is complicated for a trumpet to have so much power and consistency from top to bottom. And Yamaha’s 8310Z has it. When you pass from another trumpet to this one, you notice a substantial change in blowing from low C to high C as if all the notes were in the same register. And that’s what has made the 8310Z such a famous trumpet.
What we were looking for in this trumpet was that it was very centered, from low C to high C. When you play it, you feel that each sound is in place, the response is clear in each and every note. Good pitch, good feel. The instrument doesn’t “fight” you, it goes where you want to go.
For me, the F scale is like the real middle scale on a trumpet, because there’s another octave both below and above it, and that’s the register in which any decent trumpet player moves. I don’t need to try beyond high C on a trumpet to know if it has the high register in place or not; but on this trumpet even the high F sounds beautiful to me without problems, and that’s what I was looking for.
— Bobby Shew
