Natalie Cressman 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 ...

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Career

Cressman was born in San Francisco to jazz musicians Sandy and Jeff Cressman. When her father was part of

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

's band, she danced onstage with him at Madison Square Garden. In her early teens she began performing with Afro Cuban, Brazilian, and jazz bands. Cressman graduated from San Francisco's Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. At the age of eighteen she moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with

Luis Bonilla Luis Diego Bonilla (October 12, 1965) is an American jazz trombonist of Costa Rican descent. He is also a producer, composer, and educator. Biography Early life, musical education and influences Luis Bonilla was born and raised in Eagle Rock, C ...

, Garry Dial,

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

Wycliffe Gordon Wycliffe A. Gordon (born May 29, 1967) is an American jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. Gordon also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano. ...

. She joined a band led by

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...

. She performed with

Nicholas Payton Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973) is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a prolific and provocative writer who comments on a multitude of subjects, inc ...

's Television Symphony Orchestra and Peter Apfelbaum's New York Hieroglyphics Ensemble. In 2012 she played the Apollo Theater as a soloist in Wycliffe Gordon's Jazz a la Carte. She founded the band Secret Garden. She has appeared with the bands

Dumpstaphunk Dumpstaphunk is a funk and jam band, jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Origins and background The quintet's current lineup features Ivan Neville on vocals, B3 and Clav, the double bass attack and soulful voices of Tony Hall (m ...

and

Lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

and has been an artist at large at Bear Creek Music Festival.

References

External links

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Audio interview

Interview at The Sound podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cressman, Natalie Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from San Francisco 20th-century births 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century trombonists American trombonists Women trombonists