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Stanton Kessler
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Drums, Educator, Composer, Arranger
About Me
Stan Kessler is a Trumpet / Flugelhorn
Player, Band Leader, Clinician, and Educator in the
Kansas City area. He also does extensive writing and
arranging for small groups. Stan also plays drums
and hand percussion.
For the last 40 years, Stan has been a member
of every kind of group you could imagine. He has led
such bands as Stan Kessler and the Flat Five,
Eightball, and Baby Leroy. His expertise includes Jazz,
R&B, Funk, and all Latin genres, especially Brazilian
and Afro-Cuban.
He is currently leading The Sons of Brasil (25
years), The Stan Kessler Quartet (23 years), Stan
Kessler's TV (3 years), HoraceScope (7 years) and
The Uncertainty Principle (1 year), Passport (5 years),
Parallax, (4 years).
For 15 years Stan has maintained an adjunct
position at The University of Missouri at Kansas City in
Jazz trumpet, theory and improvisation, and music
business classes. For 10 years Stan has been on
faculty of KC Youth Jazz and Metro Jazz Workshop.
In 1980, Stan was Assistant Director of the
Jazz ensemble and combo instructor at UMKC. He
was voted Best Trumpet Player and Leader of the
Best Jazz Band (SOBs) in KC by the Pitch Readers’
Poll. Stan was deemed Musician of The Year by
blogger Plastic Sax in 2013. He has appeared in
concert with Clark Terry, Paquito D'Rivera, Ernie
Watts, Gary Foster, Karrin Allyson, Steve Cardenas,
Kevin Mahogany, Bobby Watson, John Clayton, Kim
Park, Matt Otto and many others.
My Jazz Story
I love jazz because it gives me the opportunity to improvise in so many environments I was first exposed to jazz at The Kansas City Jazz Fest in 1964 I met and hung with Clark Terry, which instantly catapulted me to another level. The first jazz record I bought was The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, Live at THe Club. Wore that thing out! My advice to new listeners is just relax and keep an open mind