Freelance trumpeter, composer and arranger Derrick Gardner is a 1987 graduate of Hampton University and assistant professor of jazz trumpet at the Michigan State University School of Music.
Gardner has performed worldwide and at many premier venues throughout the United States, working with some of the biggest names in jazz today, including the late Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Frank Foster, Jon Faddis, Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Rufus Reid, Clark Terry, Kenny Baron and James Moody, to name a few.
Gardner can be heard on numerous internationally distributed recordings, such as Frank Foster's "Leo Rising," Carlos Garnett's "Moonshadow," and Craig Bailey's "Brooklyn." As a former member of the world famous Count Basie Orchestra, Gardner performs on the ensemble's 1997 Grammy award winning recording, "The Count Basie Orchestra Live at Manchester Craftman's Guild," with the New York Voices. Having toured with the big band of singer/actor Harry Connick Jr., Gardner was the featured trumpet soloist in the Broadway musical "Thou Shalt Not," for which Connick wrote the music and lyrics.
As composer/arranger, Gardner has written for the Count Basie Orchestra and also leads his own explosive s*xtet, The Jazz Prophets, featuring his brother, trombonist Vincent Gardner of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Derrick Gardner and The Jazz Prophets recording on Impact Music, "Soul Station #1," was released in Fall 2002. Their latest project is titled Slimm Goody
Posted By: Joah King
Thursday, December 28th 2006 at 5:44AM
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