Who knows what horn this is ?

[Basie1955]

Blurry pic of counterweight.

Someone hopefully will identify it.

Thanks,

Basie

[Elow]

Pretty sure it says blessing usa

[Basie1955]

It does look like Blessing. I wasn’t sure.
Al Grey is playing this one. Thanks.

[cb56]

Blessing artist 148x Al Grey model

[Basie1955]

Blessing artist 148x Al Grey model

Excellent!

[Basie1955]

Do you know if this model was well made and sounded
great? Of course Al Grey would sound great on any horn.
Looks like a .500 with 8” bell.

[cb56]

I had an older .500 bore blessing artist years ago but not sure what model it was.
I thought it played and sounded great. Have a friend who plays a conn 48H come up to the stage at a gig to see what horn it was. Kinda looked cross eyed at me when he saw it was a blessing artist but said "well it sure sounds good"
I think Elkhart Blessings are under rated. I heard they made parts for Conn and Bach. Valve sections for bach trumpets. When Conn moved out of Elkhart Blessing bought up a bunch of their tooling. That's why the Blessing instruments mimic Conns. I think the bum wrap they get was for their student instruments. They sold a bunch of them to schools and you know how well school kids take care of horns. So next few kids treat it the same then someone else picks it up thinking it's a crap horn.

[cb56]

I also wonder if Al played a 6H before he got the endorsment deal?

[Basie1955]

I know he played a Selmer Bolero with Basie doing The More I See You at Montreaux. I’ve seen pics of him with a 3B. Both .508 bore. I wouldn’t doubt he played a 6H at some time.
Guessing that the Blessing has a lot in common with the 6H.