Hi Wildduck,
A good topic (and a brilliant non-de-plume),
I suppose that all musical instruments have the innate capability to appear interesting (as distinct from attractively tuneful) depending upon the musician, his abilities and his personal insights.
You can see from this that, to me, it is not so much the instrument that is interesting, but the instrumentalist and the instrumentation.
As an example, I can listen, with interest (and horror), to Theloneous Monk for a time to see how he is manipulating, (murdering), a beautiful tune such as 'Round Midnight, but I soon switch off and return to a tuneful pianist like Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, George Shearing or Hank Jones (or many others).
Louis Armstrong was not an interesting trumpeter, he was a wonderful one.; Miles Davis was a limited but interesting trumpeter; however the instrument is the same for both.
Cheers and welcome to the forum from John