Home » Jazz Musicians » John Lake

John Lake

John Lake is a trumpet player and composer living in New York City, maintaining a busy performance schedule as a jazz soloist and in-demand lead trumpet player. John composes and arranges original music for his own acoustic jazz septet, The John Lake Ensemble, and is a co-leader of the New Alchemy Jazz Orchestra, which has featured such artists as Peter Bernstein, Dick Oatts, and Terrell Stafford. John's compositions and arrangements have been performed at New York University, University of Wyoming, University of Colorado, Ithaca College, Celebrity Cruises, and many more.

Recent large-ensemble performances include lead and section trumpet with the American Ballet Theater Orchestra at Lincoln Center, Michael Feinstein & Tedd Firth Big Band at Jazz At Lincoln Center, Ben Markley Big Band, Fat Cat Big Band, Jihye Lee Jazz Orchestra, Jazzharmonic Orchestra, David Berger Jazz Orchestra, Charlie Rosen’s Broadway Big Band and 8-Bit Big Band, the Danny Jonokuchi Big Band, Brian Krock’s Big Heart Machine, Jazzharmonic Orchestra (Miho Hazama & Ron Wasserman), Steven Feifke Big Band, Terazza Big Band (Michael Thomas & Edward Perez), the Seth Weaver Big Band, and is a featured musician of the New York Rangers NHL team. John has performed at the Peru Jazz Festival, St. Petersburg (Florida) Jazz Festival, Denver Jazz Festival, Jazz Educators' Network Conference, Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), Kinser Jazz Festival, Elsie Fest, MAGFest, and the DC Jazz Festival.

In the world of popular music and theater, John’s diverse musical talents have afforded him opportunities to perform and record with artists such as Escort, Marc Shaiman, Mac Miller, Alex Newell, Marin Mazzie, Casey Cott, Matthew Morrison, Josh Groban, Chairlift, Kristin Chenoweth, John Lithgow, and David Hyde Pierce.

Originally from western Ohio, Lake holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Music from the University of Colorado at Boulder. John has continued his academic interests into his professional career by performing and teaching clinics at high schools and colleges nationwide, and has written for DownBeat magazine’s Woodshed section.

John plays and endorses XO Brass instruments, and records with Barkley Microphones.

Tags

1
Album Review

Erica Seguine: The New Day Bends Light

Read "The New Day Bends Light" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Impegnandosi nel ruolo di produttore, Darcy James Argue dà particolare considerazione al debutto discografico di quest'ensemble, fondato nel 2011 a New York dalle compositrici Erica Seguine e Shon Baker. La prima è anche arrangiatrice e guida dell'orchestra, la seconda entra nel cast come sassofonista. Dopo varie esibizioni in locali chiave della Big Apple, le due leader hanno selezionato sette composizioni originali dal loro repertorio, incidendole con un ampio organico comprendente talentuosi solisti della metropoli. Alcuni di essi ...

33
Album Review

Remy Le Boeuf: Architecture of Storms

Read "Architecture of Storms" reviewed by Jack Bowers


It's hard to become bored or complacent when listening to Architecture of Storms, alto saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf's second album as leader of the twenty-member Assembly of Shadows orchestra. Every song is quite different from the others, and every one has its moments of shapeliness and charm. Le Boeuf arranged every number and composed all but Justin Vernon's “Minnesota, WI" and the album's nameplate, which he co-wrote with poet Sara Pirkle, he asserts, “on a brooding stormy ...

31
Album Review

Erica Seguine/Shon Baker Orchestra: The New Day Bends Light

Read "The New Day Bends Light" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The New Day Bends Light, the debut recording by the twelve-year-old Erica Seguine/Shon Baker Orchestra, is interesting on a number of levels, not the least of which is emotional. The leaders and their twenty-one piece ensemble are clearly committed to the music and do their best to breathe life into each of the album's seven numbers, three of which were written by Seguine, three by Baker and the other ("Ose Shalom") by Nurit Hirsh. Aside from that, there is the ...

37
Album Review

Eyal Vilner Big Band: The Jam!

Read "The Jam!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Simply leading a big band in 2022 is cause for celebration. Leading a big band as sharp and talented as Eyal Vilner's New York- based ensemble is cause for far more than that. Vilner, an Israeli-born composer, arranger and woodwind specialist, formed the band in 2008, one year after arriving in New York City. He has been busy since then shaping its identity and refining its style, and his persistence pays off big-time on the band's second album, The Jam! ...

Album Review

Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows: Architecture of Storms

Read "Architecture of Storms" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Remy Le Boeuf è uno dei nomi emergenti nell'ambito dell'arrangiamento e della conduzione orchestrale. Dopo il sorprendente Assembly of Shadows del 2019, il sassofonista e bandleader californiano (a New York dal 2004) torna con la sua orchestra irrobustita nel numero e nella qualità dei singoli componenti. Tra i nuovi ingressi troviamo in particolare il trombettista Mike Rodriguez e il sassofonista Dayna Stephens, che caratterizzano un paio di brani, anche se il lavoro di Le Boeuf è prettamente ...

9
Album Review

Steven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic

Read "Kinetic" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Jazz connoisseurs who lean toward big bands that swing as earnestly and often as the renowned architects of the epic big-band era should find plenty to cheer about on Kinetic, the debut recording by New York-based pianist, composer and arranger Steven Feifke's audacious and fiery ensemble. This is a band that fires on all cylinders—but it couldn't even leave the garage unless Feifke supplied the fuel. With one exception (noted below), Feifke's intense and high-powered charts neatly pave the way, ...

1
Album Review

Steven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic

Read "Kinetic" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Assimilare la tradizione per poi creare cose originali. È questo il percorso che hanno seguito e continuano a seguire i musicisti jazz, in forme e approfondimenti diversi. A 30 anni esatti il pianista Steven Feifke è ancora al primo passo ma in questo scintillante debutto orchestrale dimostra di avere tutte le carte in regola per sviluppare percorsi originali. Kinetic è infatti un esempio del miglior modern mainstream orchestrale, elaborato sulle lezioni di Thad Jones e Mel Lewis, ...

Read more articles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The New Day Bends...

Self Produced
2023

buy

The Jam!

Self Produced
2022

buy

Kinetic

Outside in Music
2021

buy

Daring Mind

Motéma Music
2021

buy

Architecture of Storms

Soundspore Records
2021

buy

Both Are True

Greenleaf Music
2020

buy

Revived Mind

From: Daring Mind
By John Lake

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.