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Bill Warfield

A dynamic and innovative composer, bandleader and trumpeter, Bill Warfield has energized audiences, performers and writers for more than four decades. Warfield’s most recent accomplishments are Mercy Mercy Mercy, recorded on the BluJazz label by the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra in 2015 and Trumpet Story with Randy Brecker on Planet Arts Records, recorded in 2014.

These recordings are a celebration of the composer’s formative musical experiences. The two groups perform Jazz selections based on the genres of funk, Latin Jazz, and Hard Bop, all arranged by Warfield.

Bill Warfield holds an M.M. in Jazz Commercial Trumpet Performance from the Manhattan School of Music where he received the William H. Borden Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Jazz/Commercial Music, The Carmine Caruso Award for Outstanding Musicality and Trumpet Performance and the Maynard Ferguson Scholarship. In 1990 he participated in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, directed by Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam.

Bill started playing the trumpet at age 11 in the Baltimore County public school system. After a few years he began playing with local R & B and soul bands. Around that time, his trumpet teacher, Fred Frey, took him to a concert at the Lyric Theater by the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra. After hearing the group, Bill auditioned for it and was accepted. The Youth Orchestra rehearsed in the afternoons in downtown Baltimore and Bill spent his Saturday mornings studying “up the street” at the Peabody Conservatory Preparatory School.

As a result of several injuries related to car accidents, at the age of 18, Bill was left without front teeth and the use of a lung. Unable to play the trumpet for a brief time, he picked up a flute and started playing it to restore his wind and breathing.

He entered Peabody but left after one semester because he heard a college Jazz group under the direction of Hank Levy. He enrolled at Towson State College and studied with Hank, spending four years as a featured soloist with the Towson ensemble. The winner of the outstanding Trumpet Player Award at the Quinnipiac College Jazz Festival in 1973, Bill decided that a career as a Jazz Trumpeter was what he wanted. He began frequenting the Jazz clubs in downtown Baltimore and immersed himself in the local jazz scene, performing regularly with musicians such as Sonny Stitt, Mickey Fields, Jimmy Wells and Charles Covington.

Bill left Towson in 1975, but returned as a featured soloist with the Towson Band on their Music Minus One recording 2 + 2 = 5. His feature solo on Levy’s composition “Stillness Runs Deep” was chosen by the National Association of Jazz Educators as one of the top college Jazz recordings that year and can be heard on “Project One". After a few years of performing with local touring bands, Bill was hired by the City of Baltimore to perform and eventually direct the Port City Jazz Ensemble. He used the time with Port City to practice, save, and prepare to move to New York.

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5
Album Review

Bill Warfield and the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra: Smile

Read "Smile" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Having no idea what to expect from an ensemble labeled the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra, the game plan must be to advance with caution, as any orchestra with trumpeter Bill Warfield at the helm can't be all bad. After listening, it becomes clear that the game plan was sound and the premise accurate: Smile, the HKFO's second recording, isn't all bad. The question is: did Warfield and the orchestra have its own game plan? If snatching every ingredient within reach ...

8
Album Review

Bill Warfield: For Lew

Read "For Lew" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The “Lew" referred to on Renaissance man Bill Warfield's latest big-band album, For Lew, is the late trumpeter Lew Soloff, whom Warfield remembers in the liner notes as “my mentor, colleague, friend and inspiration." The inspiration arrived when the teen-age Warfield, who had switched from trumpet to piano after losing his front teeth in an auto accident, heard Soloff's memorable solo on “Spinning Wheel" by the group Blood, Sweat & Tears. “I decided at that point," Warfield writes, “that I ...

10
Album Review

Bill Warfield Big Band: Trumpet Story

Read "Trumpet Story" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Trumpeters Bill Warfield and Randy Brecker have been friends for twenty years; it's high time they joined forces in a recording studio and began making beautiful music together. On Trumpet Story, Warfield's big-band homage to trumpeters and other musicians who have influenced him through the years, six-time Grammy Award winner Brecker solos on eight of ten numbers, several of which were written by Warfield with him in mind. The result is what Joe Listener might expect--uniformly high-caliber jazz tastefully articulated ...

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Performance / Tour

Bill Warfield 70th Birthday Bash with Hell's Kitchen At Zinc Bar On March 3rd — Free!

Bill Warfield 70th Birthday Bash with Hell's Kitchen At Zinc Bar On March 3rd — Free!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

"We'll have a jam session with my NY music buddies until the neighbors beat on the walls, the police come or Alex throws us out!" —Bill Warfield Bill Warfield 70th Birthday Bash! FREE!! Zinc Bar 82 W 3rd St New York, NY 10012 212-477-8337 Private shindig from 6- 8PM, March 3rd, 2022 8:00PM: Hell's Kitchen performs! 9:30PM; Jam Session! Bill Warfield: trumpet Lou Marini: alto, flute Dave Riekenberg: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute

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Performance / Tour

Bill Warfield & The Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra At Keystone Korner Baltimore On Nov 21 - Live & Streaming!

Bill Warfield & The Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra At Keystone Korner Baltimore On Nov 21 - Live & Streaming!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

On November 21st, 2021, Bill Warfield and the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra return to Baltimore for the Thanksgiving Holidays performing an exciting program of tunes by Bill as well as James Brown, Joe Zawinul, Smokey Robinson, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock as well as Movie and T.V. themes and Hard Bop favorites. We will be virtual (for 72 hours) and in person. Come join us for great food, atmosphere provided by your host, NEA Jazz Master, Todd Barkan, music ...

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Performance / Tour

Bill Warfield And The Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra At The Keystone Korner Baltimore On March 28!

Bill Warfield And The Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra At The Keystone Korner Baltimore On March 28!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

The Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra is a group of New York City Jazz and Studio musicians who aim to produce a brand of music that defies boundaries. The HKFO accomplishes just that on the new Planet Arts Network release Smile. Bill Warfield & The Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra are swinging into Keystone Korner Baltimore to celebrate the release of their new album this March 28th, 2021. 72-Hour, $10 Streaming Fee Bill Warfield: leader, arranger, trumpet, flugelhorn Jane Stuart: Vocals ...

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Performance / Tour

Bill Warfield & The New York Jazz Quintet - September 27th At The Keystone Korner Baltimore!

Bill Warfield & The New York Jazz Quintet - September 27th At The Keystone Korner Baltimore!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

BILL WARFIELD & The New York Jazz Quintet September 27th at the Keystone Korner Baltimore Trumpeter Bill Warfield and Todd Barkan host an on-line and in-person Jazz Event in Bill's hometown of Baltimore, MD. Bill teams up with tenor saxophonist Dave Riekenberg, keyboardist Cecilia Coleman, bassist Jay Leonhart, and drummer Scott Neumann to bring you a selection of standards and some originals by Bill and Jay. The event is 'live' with limited indoor and outdoor seating from 5:00-8:00PM, September 27th ...

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Recording

Bill Warfield Re-Ups His Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra On 'Smile,' Due June 5 From Planet Arts Records

Bill Warfield Re-Ups His Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra On 'Smile,' Due June 5 From Planet Arts Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Trumpeter Bill Warfield’s Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra lives up to its name on Smile, the little big band’s second album, set for a June 5 release on Planet Arts Records. The 12-piece ensemble locates and unleashes grooves from a pair of Warfield originals and several R&B and fusion classics, as well as a few more unlikely sources. They have some major league help: keyboardist and longtime David Letterman sidekick Paul Shaffer and esteemed tenor saxophonist “Blue” Lou Marini take seats ...

3

Recording

Trumpeter/Composer/Arranger/Big Band Leader Bill Warfield Pays Tribute To His Late Mentor, Colleague, & Friend, Trumpeter Lew Soloff," On "For Lew," Due Out March 9

Trumpeter/Composer/Arranger/Big Band Leader Bill Warfield Pays Tribute To His Late Mentor, Colleague, & Friend, Trumpeter Lew Soloff," On "For Lew," Due Out March 9

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Bill Warfield’s career as a trumpeter was launched the moment he heard Lew Soloff’s immortal solo on the Blood, Sweat & Tears hit “Spinning Wheel.” “It just completely knocked me out,” says Warfield, who was 18 at the time and gigging as a pianist, having given up hope of earning a living as a horn player due to dental problems. “I’d never heard anything like it. I decided at that point that I wanted to play the trumpet again.” Eventually, ...

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Performance / Tour

Scobar Presents Bill Warfield And The Hell's Kitchen Jazz Orchestra Featuring Nicole Henry

Scobar Presents Bill Warfield And The Hell's Kitchen Jazz Orchestra Featuring Nicole Henry

Source: Lampkin Publicity Service

ScoBar Entertainment presents Bill Warfield and Nicole Henry, at the Iridium Jazz Club on Tuesday, April 19th, 2016. These two talented artist join forces to present an exciting evening of jazz/funk arrangements, written by Bill, exclusively for this special union of music. Come and groove to the soul stirring sounds of Warfield and Henry! Bill Warfield, since his 1988 opus, the New York City Jazz, trumpeter-composer-arranger has been widely known as a dyed-in- the-wool big band guy culminating in last ...

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Performance / Tour

The Bill Warfield Quintet @ Club 316 on Thursday 6/16

The Bill Warfield Quintet @ Club 316 on Thursday 6/16

Source: All About Jazz

The BILL WARFIELD Quintet as part of The Emmaus Main Street Program Summer Jazz Series: Jazz Night in Emmaus: “Every Third Thursday" Club 316, 316 Main Street Emmaus, Pennsylvania Thursday, June 16, 2005: 8pm-10:30pm FREE (ticket required, see below)

Featuring: Bill Warfield (trumpet), Dave Riekenberg (tenor), Tim Harrison (piano), Bob Bowen(bass), Scott Neumann (drums).

“Warfield's kind of music is a mixture of adventurous modernistic pieces, jazz-tinged salsa, and post-bop hipness...As ...

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Performance / Tour

Bill Warfield & The NY Jazz Repertory Orchestra @ Smith's Jazz Bar (Monday, 2/7/05)

Bill Warfield & The NY Jazz Repertory Orchestra @ Smith's Jazz Bar (Monday, 2/7/05)

Source: All About Jazz

BILL WARFIELD & The New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra Playing an eclectic variety of Hard-Bop, Electric Miles & Originals

Smith's Jazz Bar 701 8th Avenue @ 44th Street 212/246-3268

Monday, February 7, 2005 9pm-1am NO COVER!

Featuring Bill Warfield (conductor/trumpet); Ed Xiques (alto); Dave Riekenberg (tenor); Arun Luthra (tenor); Sam Bortka (baritone); Danny Cahn (trumpet); Jon Owens (trumpet); Dave Spier (trumpet); Lew Soloff (trumpet); Tim Sessions (trombone); Darrell ...

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Performance / Tour

Bill Warfield Plays the Music of Zeppelin, Brecker, Miles, + at the Triad Every Monday Beginning Jan. 6

Bill Warfield Plays the Music of Zeppelin, Brecker, Miles, + at the Triad Every Monday Beginning Jan. 6

Source: All About Jazz

The music of Led Zeppelin, Randy Brecker, Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Jimi Hendrix as arranged by Russ Anixter and Bill Warfield.

Monday, January 6th, 2003. 1 set at 9 PM. $5.00 cover. 2 drink minimum

We will be at Triad on the first Monday of every month, same time, same cover.

Trumpet and leader - Bill Warfield Trumpets - Danny Cahn, Jon Owens, Dave Spier Saxes - Ben Kono, Dave Riekenberg, Mike Karn, Ed Xiques Trombones - Pete McGinnis, Mike ...

"Trumpeter, composer, arranger, and long-established educator Bill Warfield‘s new recording, Trumpet Story, leads to an inescapable conclusion: the ears of America’s youth may be in better shape than feared. True to its title, the album offers a story – one part autobiography, one part history, and one part character study, portraying one of the great trumpet players of our time." —Randy Brecker

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Smile

Planet Arts Records
2020

buy

For Lew

Planet Arts Records
2018

buy

Trumpet Story

Planet Arts Records
2014

buy

Smile

From: Smile
By Bill Warfield

Theme For Malcolm

From: Trumpet Story
By Bill Warfield

When Janie Takes The Stand airplay mix

From: Trumpet Story
By Bill Warfield

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