Sunday Night Jazz Showcase
Program #257 (June 30 at 8:00pm)
Trumpet player Brad Upton was born on May 2, 1952 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His first 17 years were lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He studied piano in his early childhood and started playing trumpet at age 10.
He attended Berkley College of Music from 1969 through 1971. From Berkley he moved to New York City in 1972 to continue composition studies. He played jazz trumpet, wrote and arranged for Lionel Hampton, Chet Baker, Bob Mover Quintet, Hector Rivera Latin Orchestra, Cojunto La Clave, Eddie Bastien Latin Orchestra, and numerous others including, Cortillo, Tito Puente, and his own trio featuring the late Albert Daley on piano and Dennis Erwin on bass.
Brad also composed for and played jazz trumpet in two of the top jazz rehearsal bands in N.Y.C. in the early 70's. He moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1980 to raise his family and be closer to the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, artist, and founder of Naropa University. Brad received two separate grants from the Boulder Arts Commission in 1992 and 1993. The first helped fund "Suite For Jazz" scored for trumpet, and 3 saxes; Marvin Blackman, Chuck Schneider, Mark Miller or Keith Oxman. The rhythm section included; Art Lande, Mark Diamond or Ken Walker, and Chris Lee.
The second grant from the Boulder Arts Commission helped fund "Jazz Visions" which featured Mark Miller, Chuck Schneider, Charles Ayash, Mark Simon, Eric Gunnison, and Brad's 17-year-old son, Sam, on drums. Brad premiered his composition, "Kalapa," for flute and piano at the University of Colorado Doctoral Recital of Greg LaLiberte, in 1997. Brad also premiered his brass quintet scoring of the Rogers and Hart classic, "Spring Is Here," in the spring of 1997 with The Centennial Brass Quintet.
He wrote, recorded, and produced the compact disk, "Connections," in January of 1997 which features Eric Gunnison, Mark Simon, Kent MacCLagan, Mark Miller, Greg LaLiberte, and Sam Upton, which will be released by Black Orchid Music in the summer of 2000.
He also wrote, recorded, and produced the compact disk "Black Orchid" in February of 1999 which features Joe Bonner, Mitchell Long, Eduardo Bijoux Barbosa, and Sam Upton, which will be released by Black Orchid Music in April, 2000.
(provided by smooth-jazz.de)
