Jazz in July Welcomes Jazz-Hip-Hop Trumpet Virtuoso to its Faculty

With a unique musical style that fuses jazz and hip-hop, trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer Russell Gunn will join the Jazz in July faculty giving students a taste of some fiery new ways to view jazz music.

Born in Chicago in 1971, Gunn’s family moved to East St. Louis when he was nine years old. Growing up in the ghetto, Gunn developed a love for rap music at an early age. At the age of 10 he began playing the trumpet, and by the age of 16 his dedication to jazz took hold. Rather than abandoning the music he loved, Gunn combined the energy of rap to the jazz idiom. Influenced by a wide variety of music, such as Cuban, Brazilian, African, D.C.’s “Go-Go” and Hip-Hop, Gunn’s musical style is boldly progressive. Still, he pays tribute to traditional jazz.

Gunn spent two years on a full music scholarship at Mississippi’s Jackson State University. He then moved back to St. Louis where he freelanced and performed. While working in a club called Cicero’s in 1993, he was discovered by saxophonist/composer and co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, Oliver Lake. Lake invited Gunn to New York for a performance at the Brooklyn Museum.

During a jam session at New York’s Blue Note club, Gunn was heard by an assistant to Wynton Marsalis who recommended him to play on Marsalis’ Blood on the Fields. Gunn began leading his own groups and in 1994 issued his first recording, Young Gunn. During 1995-6, Gunn toured all over the U.S. and Europe. His eclectic musical approach brought him together with such hip-hop and r & b/new soul artists as Cee-Low from the Goodie Mob, Maxwell, and D’Angelo. While touring he played many festivals and provided workshops at various U.S. universities. Gunn is now a resident of Atlanta.

Gunn’s group Ethnomusicology recorded four albums, and all skillfully fuse jazz improvisation with hip-hop aesthetics. Ethnomusicology, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 were both Grammy-nominated. "Mainstream" jazz neo-conservatives have judged Gunn for his dreadlocks and hip-hop culture style of dress. But the quality of his music cannot be denied. “Gunn fuses hip-hop and R&B into this jazz record, creating an urban study in rhythm, harmony and melody,” said Justin-Time Records on Gunn’s Ethnomusicology, Vol. 3. “The album is loaded with a message and a hip cast.”

At Jazz in July, Russell Gunn will be sure to make a positive impression on instrumental and vocal students as he expands our perspective on the music and re-defines jazz for the twenty-first century.

To find out more about Jazz in July Summer Music Programs, visit www.jazzinjuly.com or call 413-545-3530.