Roger Ingram – Known for his dynamic sound, solid upper register, driving sense of swing and versatility: New video 2018

13.11. – Happy Birthday !!! Roger Ingram is one of the most prolific lead trumpet players and session musicians of our time. He grew up in Los Angeles and was fortunate to study, perform, and record with some of Hollywood’s most successful studio musicians.

To date, Roger has decades of professional experience and has done hundreds of recordings and concerts with some of the most well-known jazz and pop artists. He has also performed on many movies scores and tv/radio commercials.

Known for his dynamic sound, solid upper register, driving sense of swing and versatility, his musical legacy is embodied by his respect and regard for artistic integrity.

At sixteen, Roger toured with the great Louie Bellson Big Band, and the following summer, joined the Quincy Jones Big Band. He went on to play lead trumpet with international pop star Tom Jones for six years. In 1985 he joined the Woody Herman Orchestra on lead trumpet and remained until Herman’s death in October 1987. Ingram also toured with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra in 1988, 1990 and 1992 recording three albums with Maynard’s band. He later collaborated with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval on the Grammy Award winning album “Danzon.” Subsequently, there are a number of other Arturo Sandoval “collection” albums that Roger appears on.

In the early 1980s, he was immersed with playing production shows on the world renowned Las Vegas strip working with Johhny Haig’s (Haig Eshow) “Relief Band.” Beginning in 1992, Roger spent 16 years as a resident of New York City. In addition to recording and performing on a multitude of jazz and commercial recordings, he was also involved with hundreds of live concerts as well as over 20 Broadway productions.

In 1990, Roger joined the newly formed big band of Harry Connick, Jr., recording 19 albums with Connick and working with Harry on a regular basis until 2010. Of the albums recorded with Harry, 3 were nominated for Grammy awards including “Songs I Heard” which won a Grammy award in 2001. In between tours with Harry Connick Jr., Roger also toured in the trumpet section (lead by Walt Johnson) with Frank Sinatra, and juggled his schedule to work simultaneously with Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Ingram appears on seven albums with Marsalis, including the 1997 Pulitzer-Prize winning “Blood on the Fields.”

He left Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1997 to tour and record briefly with the legendary Ray Charles before returning to tour and record with Harry Connick Jr’s big band again in 1997. (Harry broke up the big Band in 1993 to start a funk band; he made the decision to re-form his world famous big band a few years later.)

In 2008, Roger penned the trumpet textbook, “Clinical Notes on Trumpet Playing” which has been sold in over 65 countries, and is on the required or recommended reading list for many undergraduate and graduate music programs world-wide. Roger is an XO Brass/Jupiter Performing Artist and Clinician. In 2009, with the XO Brass design team, Roger was instrumental in the design of the XO Brass 1600I professional Bb trumpet.

In 2014, Roger recorded his first album as a leader titled “Live at the College Hideaway” with the Jim Stewart Orchestra. This album had very successful sales leading Roger to record his second, critically acclaimed album as a leader titled “Skylark.” Both albums were independently recorded for his own “One Too Tree Records” record label.

Roger’s busy schedule includes recording and playing live performances in Chicago, doing private teaching in his home music studio, presenting masterclasses and brass clinics throughout the world, performing with high school, university, and professional jazz ensembles, and as an adjunct faculty member, teaching music students attending the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.