Los Angeles tuba players Tommy Johnson, Doug Tornquist and Jim Self have featured on many Hollywood recordings playing cimbasso, particularly since the popularisation of loud, low-brass heavy orchestral soundtracks.

In the mid-20th century the word cimbasso began to be used in German-speaking countries to refer to slide contrabass trombones in F.[4] This vagueness long impeded research into the instrument's history.

[5] The first uses of a cimbasso in Italian opera scores from the early 19th century referred to a narrow-bore upright serpent similar to the basson russe (lit.

[6] These instruments were constructed from wooden sections like a bassoon, with a trombone-like brass bell, sometimes in the shape of a buccin-style dragon's head.

As this progressed, the term cimbasso was used to refer to a more blending voice than the "basso tuba" or "bombardone", and began to imply the lowest trombone.

Although no Pelitti instruments, photographs or diagrams survive, it was a contrabass trombone in low 18′ B♭ wrapped in a compact form with 3 or 4 rotary valves.

[9] By the early 20th century the tuba was used in Italy for cimbasso parts, and the trombone Verdi, made mainly by Milanese and Bohemian manufacturers, disappeared from Italian orchestras.

In 1959 German instrument maker Hans Kunitz developed a slide contrabass trombone in F with two valves based on a 1929 patent by Berlin trombonist Ernst Dehmel.

[17][18] This design accommodates the instrument in cramped orchestra pits and allows a direct, concentrated sound to be projected towards the conductor and audience.

[23] Although the cimbasso in its modern form is most commonly used for performances of late Romantic Italian operas by Verdi and Puccini, since the mid 20th century it has found increased and more diverse use.

[24] Los Angeles tuba players Tommy Johnson, Doug Tornquist and Jim Self have appeared on many Hollywood soundtracks playing cimbasso,[25][22] especially since the popularization of loud, low-brass heavy orchestral music in films and video games such as the remake of Planet of the Apes (2001), Call of Duty (2003) and Inception (2010).

[30] Although there is still a lack of consensus from conductors and orchestras, using a large-bore modern orchestral C tuba to play cimbasso parts is considered inappropriate by some writers and players.