Byron Stripling

Columbus Jazz Orchestra Artistic Director and trumpet virtuoso, Byron Stripling, has ignited audiences throughout the world. Stripling has become a favorite throughout the country, soloing with Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Utah Symphony, and The American Jazz Philharmonic. He has also been a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and performs at jazz festivals throughout the world.

An accomplished actor and singer, Stripling was chosen, following a worldwide search, to star in the lead role of the Broadway bound musical, “Satchmo.” Many will remember his featured cameo performance in the television movie, “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” and his critically-acclaimed performance in the 42nd Street production of “From Second Avenue to Broadway.”

Stripling earned his stripes as lead trumpeter and soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra, under the direction of Thad Jones and Frank Foster. He has also played and recorded extensively with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, and Buck Clayton in addition to The Lincoln Center Classical Jazz Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and The GRP All Star Big Band.

Stripling enjoys conducting seminars and master classes at colleges, universities, conservatories, and high schools, where he is a favorite guest speaker to groups of all ages.

Stripling was educated at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. Stripling lives in Westerville, Ohio with his wife, former dancer, writer and poet Alexis, and their beautiful daughters.

New York Times - - Peter Watrous
"Mr. Stripling stopped the show"

"Mr. Stripling is a powerful trumpeter, at ease with the most complicated and detailed bebop lines and an open-armed Armstrong swagger."

Los Angeles Times - - Charles Champlin
"... one of the weekend's remarkable debuts... was Byron Stripling, a towering and powerful trumpet player, who has been compared to a later Louis Armstrong but whose lightning runs and startling intervals are right out of bop. When he played ... the effect was of an abbreviated history of jazz in two choruses."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch —John Huxhold
"His rapport with the audience was instance…he has pizzazz, he has charisma…It was a thrilling ride."

New York Times - - Peter Watrous
"Mr. Stripling stopped the show"

"Mr. Stripling is a powerful trumpeter, at ease with the most complicated and detailed bebop lines and an open-armed Armstrong swagger."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch —John Huxhold
"His rapport with the audience was instance…he has pizzazz, he has charisma…It was a thrilling ride."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - - Peter B. King
"Byron Stripling blew some butter-toned, full-vibrato high-register trumpet that was the most direct conjuring of Gillespie by any of the trumpeters last night."

San Francisco Examiner - - Philip Elwood
"...trumpeter Byron Stripling brought down the house with his uproarious singing of "Minnie The Moocher," which became a lusty audience sing-along."

Chicago Tribune—Howard Reich
"...Stripling, a charismatic soloist...The outsized tone and flamboyant virtuosity he brought to Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night In Tunisia" and the lyric poetry he expressed in "I Can't Get Started" set a high standard..."

Boston Herald - - Bob Young
"... Stripling let loose with a fusillade of roaring notes that nearly blew down the piano top - - and he was standing off in a corner 15 feet from the microphone."

The Denver Post - - Jeff Bradley
"Trumpeter Byron Stripling wailed New Orleans-style but also negotiated bebop runs like Kenny Dorham and had the ... audience shouting for joy with his earthy blues singing."

Salt Lake Tribune
"…he inspired the orchestra and wooded the audience with his dazzling trumpet virtuosity, seductive singing and personal charm."

Saint Paul Pioneer Press - - Bob Protzman
"Stripling has ... a strong, pure tone well into the upper register, superb control (demonstrated time and again on long-held notes) and a fluid attack that produced lengthy, well articulated melodic lines. No mere showoff, however, he played with laudable taste and musicality..."

South Bend Tribune "After this party, Mardi Gras might be something of a letdown."

New York Post - - Lee Jeske
"... the show was constantly stolen by the bristling virtuosity of Marsalis, Faddis and Stripling, who kicked things off in fine style with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues."

Village Voice - - Garry Giddins
"...and Byron Stripling, the leading Armstrong-legatee of the '90s, playing Pops, Pops, and more Pops - - not just the tunes, mind you but the feeling, the ideas, the erotic glow.

Los Angeles Times - - Leonard Feather
" In between were Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard, the Brazilian Claudio Roditi and the impassioned, high-powered Byron Stripling."

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