Byron Wallen (born July 1969) is a British jazz trumpeter, composer and educator. He was described by '' Jazzwise'' as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive". As characterised by '' All About Jazz'', "He does not fit into any pigeonhole, however, and is also something of a renaissance man: he has long been involved in

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...

and also travels widely, spending extended periods in South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Morocco, Indonesia and Belize (his parents' homeland)."

Biography

Wallen was born in London, England, to parents from

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, and was brought up in a musical family – one of his three siblings is composer Errollyn Wallen. After beginning to learn classical piano as a young child, also playing euphonium, he went on to study the trumpet in New York in the mid- to late 1980s with Jimmy Owens,

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop m ...

and

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

. Wallen graduated from

Sussex University , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

with a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Maths, while developing his music career, recording with Loose Ends and

Cleveland Watkiss Cleveland Watkiss, (born 21 October 1959), is a British vocalist, actor, and composer. Biography Cleveland Watkiss was born in Hackney, East London, to Jamaican parents, and was one of nine children. He is the older brother of pianist Trevo ...

, and playing trumpet with

The Style Council The Style Council were a British musical ensemble, band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/New wave music, new wave/mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previousl ...

Charles Earland Charles Earland (May 24, 1941 – December 11, 1999) was an American jazz organist. Biography Earland was born in Philadelphia and learned to play the saxophone in high school. He played tenor with Jimmy McGriff at the age of 17 and in 1960 form ...

, Courtney Pine and

Jean Toussaint Jean Toussaint (born July 27, 1960) is an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. Life and career Toussaint was born in Aruba, Dutch Antilles, and was raised in Saint Thomas and New York City. He learned to play calypso as a child and atte ...

, among others. He is also among the alumni of jazz music education and artist development organisation

Tomorrow's Warriors Tomorrow's Warriors is a jazz music education and artist development organisation that was co-founded in 1991 by Janine Irons and Gary Crosby, committed to championing diversity, inclusion and equality across the arts through jazz, with a spec ...

. Other artists with whom he would later perform include David Murray, Andrew Hill,

Butch Morris Lawrence Douglas "Butch" Morris (February 10, 1947 – January 29, 2013) was an American cornetist, composer and conductor. He was known for pioneering his structural improvisation method, ''Conduction'', which he utilized on many recordings. B ...

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...

, Hugh Masekela, Manu Dibango, Eddie Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, George Benson,

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

, Toumani Diabaté, Ronnie Laws,

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

and Grand Union Orchestra. Forming his own band Sound Advice in 1992, Wallen released his debut album in 1995, which has been followed by five further albums. As a composer Wallen has had commissions from such organisations as London's

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, Jerwood Foundation,

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

, National Theatre,

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and

Sage Gateshead Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which incl ...

. In 2018, Wallen joined the staff of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Awards and recognition

In 2003, Wallen received a BBC Jazz Award in the Jazz Innovation category. His 2007 album, ''Meeting Ground'', was nominated for Best Band and Best Album in the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards and Best Jazz Act in the 2007 MOBO Awards. In 2017, Wallen received a

Paul Hamlyn Award Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

Discography

* 1995: ''Sound Advice'' * 1997: ''Bambaraka - Automatic Original'' * 1997: ''Earth Roots'' * 2002: ''Indigo'' * 2007: ''Meeting Ground'' * 2020: ''Portrait: Reflections On Belonging''

References

External links

Official website
* Le Gendre, Kevin
"A Meeting Of Minds"
''Echoes'', 2007. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallen, Byron Living people 1969 births English people of Belizean descent Black British musicians English jazz trumpeters British male jazz musicians 21st-century English composers 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century jazz composers FMR Records artists Tomorrow's Warriors alumni