<P> David Mason (2 April 1926--29 April 2011) was an English orchestral, solo and session trumpet player . He played the flugelhorn for the premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams's ninth symphony and the piccolo trumpet solo on the Beatles' song "Penny Lane". </P> <P> Mason was born in London, and educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music where he studied with Ernest Hall . His early playing career benefited from the timing of the Second World War: as a sixteen - year - old he was ineligible for call - up where many older players had already been recruited, and was thus able to pick up a lot of work in London before and during his time as a student at the Royal College of Music, which was itself interrupted by his own call - up into the Band of the Scots Guards . Before call - up he was the youngest member of the then National Symphony Orchestra . </P>

Who played the trumpet solo on penny lane