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Ted Chubb

Some people—the lucky ones—just know, very early on, who they are. Ted Chubb was still in his teens when he realized music was his calling. “When I was 10, the band instruments were demonstrated at school and it was never a question of if I was going to play, only which one,” he says. “For some reason the trumpet just felt like my voice. Once I began playing, it felt a part of me.”

For more than two decades now, music—specifically jazz—has defined Ted Chubb. The multi-faceted artist has not only expressed himself as a trumpeter but has also displayed a unique voice as a composer. He has served as both bandleader and sideman and has worked as an educator and music director/administrator. Since the beginning of his career, his wide-ranging diversity and a ceaseless drive to fine-tune his craft and pay it forward have marked his approach. On his own recordings—2009’s New Tricks, with saxophonist Mike Lee, 2011’s Alternate Side and, most recently, his brand-new album Gratified Never Satisfied—and in his work with others, Chubb has demonstrated an innate ability to adapt his knowledge, talent and worldliness to every aspect of his art and work.

Chubb grew up surrounded by music. He was born in Ohio, his mother a cellist, pianist and soprano singer. “I sang in church choirs, played Suziki violin for a short time and took piano lessons,” he says. “We were always going to local concerts that my mother was playing in. As a child it was not uncommon in my house at family gatherings for everyone to be around the piano singing as my mother or grandmother played.”

It wasn’t long before the young Ted was drawn to one particular genre. “Music was always something that was natural to me but not something I put a lot of emphasis on until I found jazz,” he says. “Music was just something that I did that was a natural part of being in my family, but when I found Miles Davis’ ’Round About Midnight, and Lee Morgan with Art Blakey on A Night in Tunisia, it held a whole new meaning for me. It was a sound that, as a kid growing up in a small town in Ohio, I had no idea existed. I was completely enthralled with it from the moment I heard those records.”

By age 10, Chubb was playing trumpet. He was fortunate to find teachers who not only taught him technique but put the music into context. Chubb credits one early mentor, Dennis Reynolds, “who helped set me on a path that was rooted in the principles of the music that I still hold dear to this day. Without him I am not sure I would still be playing today.”

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Album Review

The Radam Schwartz Organ Big Band: Message from Groove and GW

Read "Message from Groove and GW" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Liner notes notwithstanding, the alliance of a big band and organ is hardly unique—Jimmy Smith, Richard “Groove" Holmes and Joey DeFrancesco are organ maestros who have been there and done that; even the great Oscar Peterson once dipped his toes into that water. Having said that, organist Radam Schwartz and his power-laden New Jersey-based ensemble do the concept proud on Message from Groove and GW, burning on all cylinders and swinging as hard and as often as any band has ...

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Live Review

Ted Chubb Band at Trumpets Jazz Club

Read "Ted Chubb Band at Trumpets Jazz Club" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


Ted Chubb Band Trumpets Jazz Club Montclair, NJ June 21, 2018 The other night I went to Trumpets Jazz Club to check out the Ted Chubb Band without any preconceptions as to what I was about to hear. I was nonetheless interested in answers to some basic questions. Knowing nothing about the trumpeter's efforts as the sole leader of a band I arrived at the club with a mental checklist. What's the set list comprised ...

5
Album Review

Ted Chubb: Gratified Never Satisfied

Read "Gratified Never Satisfied" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Trumpeter Ted Chubb offers a well-balanced album of four originals and four thoughtfully-arranged covers on Gratified Never Satisfied, his third record as a leader. With solid, in-the-pocket musicianship and strong chemistry among his bandmates, it's an enjoyable outing likely to generate some buzz for this up-and-coming jazzman. Chubb is a disciplined, meticulous soloist, and whether he's providing tenacious licks with up-beat material like the record's title track or pensive musings on the ballad standard “My Ideal," Chubb does ...

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Recording

"Alternate Side": New CD by Mike Lee & Ted Chubb's New Tricks Due April 5

"Alternate Side": New CD by Mike Lee & Ted Chubb's New Tricks Due April 5

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

The four members of New Tricks first discovered their uncanny musical affinity more than six years ago, and have been delving into creative possibilities ever since. Their brilliant sophomore CD Alternate Side, which New Tricks Records will release on April 5, is clearly a group effort in which the band mates interact with and complement each other as if they share one mind. “This CD was recorded the way we had dreamed of recording," says tenor saxophonist and co-leader Mike ...

“Chubb a keen thoughtful soloist, was evocative on “Blue and Green.” He mixed hard hitting ideas with those that were tender, each one a smart melodic package” Zan Stewart/The Star Ledger

“Ted is a great talent and very clearly dedicated to the music. The sound of his trumpet commands the listener to tune in. Carmen Lundy/vocalist and recording artist

“One of my favorite trumpet players” Cecil Brooks III/drummer, producer, club owner

“Chubb, with a soft to gritty sound offered both swinging and abstract leaning ideas.” Zan Stewart/The Star Ledger

Of course the evening belonged to the hometown hero Ted Chubb as his technique was impeccable and virtuostic (“Shortstops” and “Ah-Lu-Cha”) and one here is reminded of trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard. Tim Kalil/pianist, educator, writer

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