The Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music) is a nonprofit organization founded by jazz trumpeter
Dave Douglas to encourage aspiring trumpeters. The annual festival consists of concerts and workshops over a two to three week period in New York City in September. FONT also gives an Award of Recognition to a distinguished trumpeter who has made an important contribution to the instrument.
History
The first took place at the downtown music venue Tonic in August 2003 and presented 40 performances with trumpeters representing
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
,
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...
,
hip hop,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
improvisational
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
, and classical music. During the next year, the festival expanded into other venues, such as the New York
Baháʼí Center, the 14th Street Y, and Makor. The second festival featured trumpeter
Bill Dixon and performances by the 22-member Trumpet Nation led by
Butch Morris. The third annual FONT Music, held in August 2005, provided a week-long celebration of
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Biography
Born in ...
at the Jazz Standard and an expansion of educational and performance opportunities for students and aspiring musicians. Jon Nelson joined Dave Douglas and
Roy Campbell Jr.
Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr. (September 29, 1952 – January 9, 2014) was an American trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, although he also performed rhythm and blues and funk during his career.
Biography
Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1 ...
as co-directors of the festival and oversaw the creation of an advisory board.
The fifth annual Festival of New Trumpet Music began on September 15, 2007 and continued until September 30 with performances at the
Manhattan School of Music, Jazz Standard,
Blue Note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...
,
Cornelia St. Cafe, Tea Lounge,
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, and Barbes.
FONT Music 2007 welcomed
Ralph Alessi
Ralph Alessi (born March 5, 1963) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and ECM recording artist. Alessi is known as a virtuosic performer whose critically-acclaimed projects include his Baida Quartet, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nashee ...
,
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Ch ...
,
Cecil Bridgewater
Cecil Bridgewater (born October 10, 1942) is an American jazz trumpeter.
Biography
Bridgewater was born in Urbana, Illinois and studied at the University of Illinois. He and brother Ron formed the Bridgewater Brothers Band in 1969, and in the 197 ...
, Robert Erickson,
John McNeil
John McNeil (February 14, 1813 – June 8, 1891) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was most noted for his role in the Palmyra Massacre and other acts of alleged brutality, as well as his participation in the Batt ...
,
Jeremy Pelt
Jeremy Pelt (born November 4, 1976, in California) is an American jazz trumpeter.
Career
Pelt studied classical trumpet as a child and focused on jazz after playing in a high school jazz ensemble. He studied at Berklee College of Music. Among th ...
, the Taylor Haskins Experiment, Kirk Knuffke,
Matt Lavelle
Matt Lavelle (born 1970 in Paterson, New Jersey) is a jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, alto clarinet, and bass clarinet player.
Career
Lavelle began his music career with Hildred Humphries, a swing era veteran who played with Count Basie and Billie Holi ...
Spiritual Power Trio, Macroquarktet, Jason Palmer, Jason Price,
Huang Ruo, and the
Kenny Wollesen
Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist.
Wollesen has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a fou ...
Big Band.
In 2008, the Festival presented a celebration of Louis Armstrong, Woody Shaw, and Wadada Leo Smith, and performances by
Avishai Cohen,
Amir ElSaffar
Amir ElSaffar (born 1977 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. His compositions combine jazz, classical, and traditional Arabic music.
Biography
ElSaffar was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1977. His mother, Ruth Antho ...
,
Mark Isham
Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and film composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic. He is also a film composer, having worked on numerous films and ...
,
Ingrid Jensen
Ingrid Jensen (born January 12, 1966) is a Canadian jazz trumpeter.
Music career
Jensen was born in North Vancouver and grew up in Nanaimo. She received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
After graduating from Berklee, she ...
,
Frank London
Frank London (born 1958 in New York) is an American klezmer trumpeter who also plays jazz and world music.
Early life
London was born to a Reform Jewish family and grew up in New York and Connecticut. He started playing the trumpet in fourt ...
, John McNeill, and Jeremy Pelt. This festival also displayed works by Chris DiMeglia, Nabaté Isles, and Reut Regev and the Brassix Ensemble.
The seventh annual FONT Music Festival in 2009 included performances at the Jazz Standard and Cornelia St Cafe, lessons with
Laurie Frink
Laurie Ann Frink (August 8, 1951, Pender, Nebraska – July 13, 2013, New York City) was an American jazz trumpeter who worked primarily in big band idioms.
Frink attended the University of Nebraska (1969-1972) and studied under Jimmy Maxwell (1 ...
, and a workshop with John McNeill. There were performances by
Ambrose Akinmusire, RJ Avallone,
Bobby Bradford,
Thomas Heberer
Thomas Heberer (born 13 November 1947 in Offenbach/Main, Germany) is a Senior Professor of Chinese Politics & Society at the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
Education
Thomas Heberer studied Social Anthropology (major), Philosophy, Politica ...
,
Eddie Henderson, Russ Johnson,
Jordan McLean
Jordan McLean (born 8 October 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia at international level.
He has previously played for ...
,
Leron Thomas
Leron Thomas (born April 8, 1979) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer and vocalist noted for his musical style as a "masterful genre-bender". Born in Houston, Texas Thomas attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He moved t ...
, and James Zollar.
FONT Music 2010 included performances in the lower east side and in Brooklyn in October and January. The following musicians were featured in October:
Lina Allemano,
Josh Deutsch
Josh Deutsch is an American musician and composer. Primarily known as a trumpet player, he is a founding member of the Queens Jazz Overground, leads the band Pannonia and the Josh Deutsch Quintet, and performs regularly in a duo with guitarist N ...
, Brad Henkel, Kirk Knuffke, Matt Lavelle, Brad Mason, Nick Roseboro, and Ben Syverson. In January, FONT celebrated the live and career of Wilmer Wise with a performance and a workshop. Several trumpet ensembles and workshops in Abelton Live and group improvisation also took place.
The ninth annual Festival of New Trumpet Music in 2011 celebrated Kenny Wheeler and Bill Dixon. It featured performances by Jonathan Finlayson,
John Hollenbeck, Ingrid Jensen, Stephanie Richards,
Tomasz Stanko Tomasz is a Polish given name, the equivalent of Thomas in English.
Notable people with the given name include:
*Tomasz Adamek (born 1976), Polish heavyweight boxer
*Tomasz Arciszewski (1877–1955), Polish socialist politician and Prime Min ...
, and
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active i ...
FONT Music 2012 was the tenth anniversary festival and featured a month of concerts throughout September. Performances occurred at the Jazz Gallery, Smalls Jazz Club, and Rockwood Music Hall. Performers included No BS Brass Band, Adam O'Farrill, Alicia Rau, John Raymond,
Claudio Roditi, Natsuki Tamura, Tilt Brass,
Charles Tolliver,
Jack Walrath
Jack Arthur Walrath (born May 5, 1946) is an American post-bop jazz trumpeter and musical arranger known for his work with Ray Charles, Gary Peacock, Charles Mingus, and Glenn Ferris, among others.
Biography
Walrath was born in Stuart, Florida. ...
,
David Weiss, and the
West Point Jazz Knights.
In 2013, The Festival of New Trumpet Music presented Music for Small, Medium and Massive: Premieres, Fanfares and Remembrance from September 10 to October 2. This festival included many premieres and commissions including a 52 trumpet piece. Musicians included Roy Cambell Jr., Matt Holman, and
John Zorn.
The 2014 Festival of New Trumpet Music featured over 15 performances and workshops in September at the Smoke Jazz and Supper Club, Village Zendo, Cornelia St Café, Mannes, New School, St Peter's Church, Littlefield, Ibeam, and Rockwood Music Hall. The festival included workshops and demonstrations by Blast of Brass and Jesse Neuman, Josh Landress, and a panel discussion on Brass Music in the 21st century. FONT Music awarded Raymond Mase with the Award of Recognition for his career and work with the American Brass Quintet. Performances included appearances by the American Brass Quintet, Practical Trumpet Society, New School Alumni Trumpet Round Robin, Banda de los Muertos, FONT's own Afro-Brass Assembly, No BS Brass Band, Graham Haynes, Carlos Abadie, Tim Hagans, and Aaron Shragge.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official site
Classical music festivals in the United States
Music festivals established in 2003
Jazz festivals in New York City