This is a document covering the history of the trombone from medieval to present times. For the purposes of this review, primarily the slide trombone will be considered, as its history is very rich and long. The trombone comes in many varieties, the most well known being the tenor slide trombone.

The trombone is in actuality a family of instruments ranging from the contrabass all the way up to the soprano. It includes the more common slide trombones (and best, in my opinion), valve trombones, and even a hybrid version with a slide and valves known as the "Superbone".