Fred Irby III is an American

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 major ...

professor, music director and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er. He is a Professor of Music at Howard University in Washington, DC and the director of the Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE).

Career

Irby is from

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

and holds degrees from Grambling State University and Southern Illinois University. He is a Professor of Music at Howard University in Washington, DC, where he has taught since 1974, and the director of the Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE). Under his direction the HUJE has toured internationally and has 41 recordings. He is also Principal Trumpet of the Kennedy Center Opera House Musical Theater Orchestra. He holds active membership of many music associations and orchestras.

Performances

Major orchestral performances in which Irby has taken part include the Twentieth Century Fox movie

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

, the ABC-TV show

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

, the NBC-TV show

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

, the

56th Primetime Emmy Awards The 56th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 19, 2004. The ceremony was hosted by Garry Shandling and was broadcast on ABC. The HBO miniseries ''Angels in America'' had the most successful night. It became the first program to ...

, the 87th, 88th and 89th

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Gala (OSCARS), the Kennedy Center Honors Gala, and the Christmas in Washington Gala.

Commissions

He has commissioned and premiered compositions by two eminent African American composers: ''TROMBA'': Suite for B Flat Trumpet and Piano by Ulysses S. Kay; and ''Spiritual Fantasy #1'' for Piccolo Trumpet and Piano by Frederick Tillis.

Awards

Irby received the 2008 Downbeat magazine Achievement Award In Jazz Education, and in 2008 was inducted into the Grambling State University Alumni Hall of Fame. He received the Disney Performing Arts Award for Excellence in Teaching Jazz in 2009 at the MENC Teaching Music Awards ceremony, and was designated a Lowell Mason Fellow in 2010. In 2016, he received the Ronnie Wells Jazz Service Award at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, the DC Jazz Festival awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award at their 2016 Gala at the Kennedy Center and he was inducted into the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Alumni Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Biography
Howard University Jazz Ensemble {{DEFAULTSORT:Irby, Fred III Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Mobile, Alabama American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters American music educators 21st-century trumpeters Jazz musicians from Alabama 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians