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John Bailey
“John Bailey is a great improviser. Since we met as teenagers I've been taken with how natural a musician he is and how deeply his roots go into the tradition of jazz music. He's a joy to listen to!”
—Donny McCaslin
Known as one of the most eclectic trumpet players in New York City, Bailey is an in-demand musician and teaching artist on call for everything from traditional jazz, to R&B and Pop, to classical. He became a member of The Buddy Rich Band while still in college, and his career has included
long-running gigs with Ray Charles, master conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto, The Woody Herman Orchestra and Frank Sinatra, Jr. His work with Latin Jazz innovator Arturo O'Farrill won two Grammy awards for the albums The Offense of the Drum and Cuba - The Conversation Continues. He has played on more than 70 albums and, as a jazz educator, has taught at the University of Miami and Florida International University.
A trumpet prodigy, Bailey's spectacular gifts began to be noticed as a high school musician in 1984 when DownBeat Magazine cited him in its annual Student Music Awards for outstanding performances in both the classical and jazz trumpet categories, noting “Shades of Wynton!” The same year, he was a finalist in the National Foundation for Advancements in the Arts (NFAA) Arts Recognition and Talent Search, along with Donny McCaslin and Bill Charlap; and won the National Association of Jazz Educators’ Youth Talent Contest. Later, as a senior at the Eastman School of Music, he won DownBeat’s Best Instrumental Soloist award.
Looking back, he says, “It all started for me when I discovered Clifford Brown. Clifford was the centerpiece of the golden era of jazz trumpet, and a great place to begin my lifelong study of the instrument. He was influenced by everyone before him, and became an influence on everyone after.”
Bailey, who continues to teach privately, believes that educating the next generation of musicians is essential for any artist. “In American culture, where the arts are often ignored or deemphasized in both schools and the mainstream media, it is up to us, the artists, to inspire an appreciation for great art.” he says. “By keeping performance standards as high as possible and sharing our devotion with others, especially children, we enrich countless lives.”
—Allen Morrison
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John Bailey: Time Bandits
by Jack Bowers
After working and recording for decades with some of the jazz world's best and brightest talents, trumpeter John Bailey released his first album as leader of his own group in 2018, the second in 2020 and, in 2023, his third, Time Bandits, which shares a name but nothing more with Terry Gilliam's 1981 film fantasy. Bailey leads an all-star quartet on this one, firmly anchored by drummer Victor Lewis (the timekeeper on all of Bailey's albums) and ...
read moreThe Marauding John Bailey
by David Bixler
After more that 30 years as an omnipresent side man on the NYC scene, trumpeter John Bailey decided it was time to step out as a leader so in 2018 he recorded his first record, In Real Time. This was followed in 2020 with Can You Imagine, and now, in 2023, he has released Time Bandits with George Cables, Scott Colley, and Victor Lewis. In this episode of LINER NOTES John talks about his music and the patient path that ...
read moreTed Kooshian: Hubub!
by Edward Blanco
New York pianist and keyboardist Ted Kooshian continues his love affair with classic TV, cartoon themes and the pop scene, on Hubub!, offering a selection of striking originals influenced by his enthusiastic love for pop culture," which includes tributes to actors Steve McQueen and William Shatner of Star Trek fame. The album's sole standard is Leonard Bernstein's classic Somewhere" from the West Side Story play, distinguishing this version from so many others with an atypically jaunty arrangement from the pianist. ...
read moreTed Kooshian: Hubub!
by Jack Bowers
There are two ways of looking at Hubub!, pianist Ted Kooshian's fifth album as leader. The first is, nothing new here"; and the second, everything is new here." On the one hand, Kooshian's able quintet hews closely to the post-bop canon which has given rise to its fabric; on the other, they do so within the framework of Kooshian's bright and engaging melodies, none of which seems commonplace or shopworn. Kooshian wrote nine of the album's eleven ...
read moreArturo O'Farrill: Four Questions
by Jerome Wilson
Surprisingly this set marks the first time Arturo O'Farrill has recorded a set of solely his own compositions. It was worth the wait because this music, played by his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, really demonstrates the cinematic sweep and variety of his writing. The set is constructed around two topical extended works. The first, Four Questions," is based on four questions about the struggle for human rights and personal dignity first posed by African-American author W.E.B. DuBois in ...
read moreArturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: Four Questions
by Jack Bowers
The Four Questions addressed by composer / pianist Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra on its latest album were first posed in 1903 by W.E.B. DuBois in his book The Souls of Black Folk and are answered herein by the esteemed educator / historian / social activist Dr. Cornel West. For the record, the questions are what does integrity do in the face of adversity and oppression, what does honesty do in the face of lies and deception, what does ...
read moreJohn Bailey: Can You Imagine?
by Jack Bowers
Letting his imagination roam free, trumpeter John Bailey envisions a world in which one of his musical touchstones, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, is president of the United States--one in which Gillespie's cabinet includes Duke Ellington (secretary of state), Louis Armstrong (secretary of agriculture) and Miles Davis (CIA director). The fact is, Gillespie did run" for president in 1964, a crusade that was far more satirical than serious. Nevertheless, as was his fashion, Gillespie milked his candidacy" for all it was worth, ...
read morePrimary Instrument
Trumpet
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
Trumpeter John Bailey, who continues to teach privately, believes that educating the next generation of musicians is essential for any artist. “In American culture, where the arts are often ignored or deemphasized in both schools and the mainstream media, it is up to us, the artists, to inspire an appreciation for great art.” he says. “By keeping performance standards as high as possible and sharing our devotion with others, especially children, we enrich countless lives.”
Photos
Music
Time Bandits
From: Time BanditsBy John Bailey
Hubub
From: Hubub!By John Bailey
Rhapsody
From: In Real TimeBy John Bailey