Professional trumpet players are 1. Terence Blanchard 2. King Oliver 3. David Hickman, and seven more to know in 2023.
The world is full of incredibly mesmerizing talents in the musical field, bringing any music back to life with its rhythm, beat, notes, voice, and melody.
A trumpet is the oldest valved brass musical instrument used by trumpeters over 3500 years. The trumpet has evolved and been designed uniquely. In the past, the trumpet had no piston valves; later, valves were added around 1820.
There are different types of trumpets, like The Bb Trumpet, the C Trumpet, the D/Eb Trumpet, the pocket trumpet, the slide trumpet, the bugle, the natural trumpet, and The Piccolo Trumpet.
Musicians use the trumpet as their interest since more advanced trumpet has been introduced over the past two decades.
1. David Hickman
David Hickman is a 72-year-old American trumpeter known for being the Regents professor of trumpet at Arizona State University. Also, he is the former president of the International Trumpet Guild.
Since the 1980s, David has become an award-winning trumpeter by receiving the International Trumpet Guild’s prestigious award of Merit. In 2017, he brought home the ITG’s Honorary Award and was named the only person to receive both ITG’s top awards.
From 1973 to 2008, David performed in several solo events and concerts such as Masterclass Series: Classical Trumpet (Summit Records) in 2008, The Golden Age Of Brass Concertos for Trumpet (Clarino) in 1973, The Naples Philharmonic ft David Hickman in trumpet in 1993 and many more.
Hickman usually posts videos of playing trumpets and lessons to practice musical instruments on Facebook. On May 4, 2020, Hickman shared a video of the Boston University Trumpet Ensemble performing the HME edition of The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
2. Alison Balsom
Alison Louise Balsom is a 44-year-old British OBE solo trumpeter, composer, and music teacher. She has been a professional trumpet player since 2001.
She became the artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival in 2019 and was a soloist in 2009 BBC Last Night of the Proms. At The 2013 Gramophone Awards festival, she was awarded Artist of the Year, including three German Echo Awards.
Alison took trumpet classes at Greenway Middle School and Meridian School at age seven after attending Tannery Drift School. She also played in the Royston Town band between ages 8 to 15. After that, she played in the NYO-GB (National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain) for three years and studied at the Guildhall School.
Alison started her career in music for Trumpet and Organ through EMI Classics in 2002.
She recently released her album Quiet City by Warner Classic, making it number one in UK’s Specialist Classical Chart and Classical Artist Albums.
3. Aaron Bertram
Aaron Bertram is a 41-year-old trumpet player from Texas known as a ska band Suburban Legends member.
Also, he is a member of Kids Imagine Nation, the children’s music group that provides comedy content to inspire movement, kindness, and creativity.
Per IMDb, Aaron worked with the SKA band from 1998 to 2005 and again re-joining the group in 2005 and has been working till the present.
Aaron is currently hustling to provide an online streaming service for Children’s Entertainment and Arts Education called KINTV since March 2020. In addition, he works as a music educator.
In addition, Aaron appeared as Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon with Suburban Legends between 2003 and 2009. Aaron also performed in several shows with the legendary band following the departure of former trumpet player Luis Beza.
4. Eugene Ball
50-year-old Eugene Ball is an Australian award-winning Jazz trumpeter from Melbourne. He is a multi-talented artist who composes music and works as an educator.
In 2004, Eugene and Stephen Magnusson started Lebowski’s musician series concerts. Later that year, Euger became the vital initiator of the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival in 2005.
Letting you know, Eugene won the best Australian Jazz Composition Award at the Bells awards in 2008 in Fool Poet’s Portion category. In addition, the ball was honored and placed second in the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz Awards in 2003.
Eugene was a two-time finalist in the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2003 and 2006. Similarly, Lebowski’s recently started a new series, “An Exposition,” at the 2021 and 2022 Brunswick music festival, where young and budding creators and arrangers collaborate and discuss artistic practice and place.
Per Eugene’s official website, the album track Songs From My Father, released with Petra Haden and Nick Haywood Quintet, got a nomination for an ARIA Award in October 2021.
5. Wayne Bergeron
LA-based studio musician Wayne Bergeron is a prolific and self-proclaimed jazz trumpeter.
Born in Connecticut and raised in LA, Wayne’s career skyrocketed after he became the lead trumpeter in Maynard Ferguson’s band in 1986. He has worked on over 400 TV and motion picture soundtracks, including Disney/ Pixar’s animated movies The Incredibles, Despicable Me, Dreamgirls, Frozen, Toy Story 3, and many more.
As a leader and sideman or guest artist, Wayne has worked with aced musical artists and singers, including Michael Feinstein, Maynard Ferguson, Bill Elliot, Bob Florence, Tom Kubis, John LaBarbera, Frank Macchia, Chris Walden, Robbie Williams, John Powell, Bill Watrous, and others.
The 65-year-old Wayne released his debut album, You Call This Living, in 2002, followed by Plays with Others (2007), Full Circle (2016), Music and Mistletoe (2012), and so on.
In October 2021, Wayne shared one of his latest favorite trumpets, collaborating with Yamaha Music USA on Instagram. He revealed that it was the best trumpet he had ever played.
6. Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard is a celebrated music composer and trumpeter. Starting his career in 1982, Terence was a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and the Jazz Messengers.
Blanchard has worked in writing music for movies Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995(, BlackKkKlansman (2018), and Da 5 Bloods (2020) with two times Academy Awards director Spike Lee.
In addition to this, Terence served as an artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz for a decade since early 2001. In 2011, he became a creative director at the University of Miami at the Henry Mancini Institute.
The (UCLA) University of California, Los Angeles, named Blanchard as its endowed chair in Jazz Studies in 2019, where work until 2024.
The Metropolitan Opera House, based in New York City, arranged and composed the Fire Shut Up in My Bones in its 2021–2022 season based on the book by Charles M. Blow, the first Afro-American composer ever in the organization’s history.
7. Chris Botti
Christopher Stephen Botti, also professionally known as Chris Botti, is a top-notch American trumpeter and composer.
The 60-year-old Chris won Grammy Awards for the tenth studio album, Impressions, for Best Pop Instrumental category in 2013.
Also, Chris was nominated for his ninth album Italia and three nominations for his 2010 live album Chris Botti in Boston. Four of his last released albums, When I Fall In Love (2004), To Love Again: The Duets (2005), Italia (2007), and Impressions (2012), peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard jazz musical charts.
Botti rose to fame after his fourth studio album, Night Sessions, was released through Columbia Records on October 2, 2001. He was remarked as a versatile musician in pop and jazz music, creating a unique fusion by using both styles together.
Did you know? Botti has worked with Verve Recordings (1995-2000) and Columbia Recordings (2001-present).
8. William Caviness
William Caviness, aka Will Caviness, is a 40-year-old well-renowned jazz trumpeter from Memphis, Tennessee.
Born in 1982, Will currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To be precise, he gained recognition worldwide after releasing his debut album, A Walk, in 2015.
The song A Walk reached the top 10 billboard playlist for three consecutive weeks in 2016 and was also reviewed in Downbeat Magazine.
In addition, Will worked as a sideman with the English rock band Muse in 2009, Love plus Rockets in 2011, and The Old Ceremony in 2005.
On October 5, 2021, Will shared an image confessing that he had a great time playing trumpet with the big band member Donnie Norton at the University of Portland. He stated that Norton was one of his classmates at NEC Music.
9. Avishai Cohen
Avishai Cohen is professionally known as a jazz trumpeter and composer born in Israel with two exceptional jazz musician siblings, Anat and Yuval.
There is yet another musician with a similar name Avishai Cohen, a prominent 52-year-old bassist. People often get confused since their reputation is identical and has the same interest in music.
In 2001, Avishai recorded and released his debut album, The Trumpet Player, in 2003. After he graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, he competed in the Thelonious Monk Jazz trumpet competition in 1997, scoring third position.
Cohen then moved to New York City to develop his music-playing skills with Jason Lindner (pianist) and Omer Avital (bassist) at Smalls Jazz Club.
Per Cohen’s Twitter bio, he is one of the band members of Avishai Cohen Quartet and Big Vicious, signing a record deal with ECM.
In February 2023, Avishai Cohen Quartet went on a European tour with @yonathanavishai, @barakmor, and @zivravitz. He shared tour details via Instagram on March 1, 2023.
10. Louis Dowdeswell
London-based Trumpet player Louis Dowdeswell is a successful musician and producer. His first-ever favorite trumpet is a Yamaha YTR-8335LAS trumpet.
Louis is also an aspiring social media influencer and content creator. His YouTube channel, Louis Dowdeswell, has 91.4k subscribers and over 18 million views since 2009.
Louis uploaded a video titled Into the Unknown| Frozen 2 (Huge Instrumental Version) two years ago on his channel. The video has been streamed over 439k views as of 2023. As of January 2023, Louis has over 57k followers and 27k likes on Facebook.
Louis joined the Royal Academy of Music and graduated in 2016, ever since he started honing his career as a trumpet player and music producer.
Between 2012 and 2014, Louis competed in a BBC Proms Concert at the Royal Albert Hall and got his early training in commercial trumpet National Youth Jazz Orchestra.