Home » Jazz Musicians » Chris Klaxton
Chris Klaxton
New England native, Chris Klaxton, has developed a reputation as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, an imaginative composer, and an effective educator. With degrees in both classical and jazz trumpet, Klaxton has received a rich and varied education, studying with: Brian Lynch, Terence Blanchard, Jason Carder, Dr. Robert Stibler, Stephen Guerra, Whit Sidener, and Gary Lindsay.
Perhaps the most significant musical relationship of Klaxton’s career is that with famed trumpeter, Clark Terry. Years of study, several years as valet / travel manager, and more than a decade of friendship with Clark, has left Chris saturated with lessons and anecdotes (musical and otherwise). Chris is proud to pass on a repertoire unique to Clark, a system of phrasing and rhythmic pronunciation, and a means of conveyance handed down directly from one of the founding fathers of the music.
As a performer, Klaxton contributes trumpet, keyboards, guitar, and percussion to a variety of projects running the stylistic gamut. His self-led 8-piece ensemble has recorded two albums of original music (STARCODE and COLLAGE) which display Klaxton’s eclectic palette, a unique approach to the jazz tradition, and a fertile imagination.
In 2015 Klaxton founded OURBIGBAND, a New England-based large ensemble dedicated to performing new music. The band’s 2016 collaboration with famed trumpeter / composer, Dave Douglas, featured a program of Douglas’ large ensemble music as well as a premiere of Self Portrait in Four Dimensions (dedicated to Charles Mingus).
Equal to Klaxton’s passion for performing is a commitment to education. On faculty at the University of Southern Maine, Plymouth State University, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC), and Southern New Hampshire University, Klaxton teaches jazz trumpet, classical trumpet, jazz piano, composition, theory, and coaches ensembles. He is also an in demand clinician, adjudicator, is available for private instruction, and serves as choir director for First Parish Federated Church in South Berwick, Maine.
Tags
Allen Lowe: A Love Supine: Ascension into the Maelstrom
by Karl Ackermann
There is an exhaustive property to the body of Allen Lowe's work. Composer, saxophonist, sporadic guitarist who composes on piano, and the author of several noteworthy music histories, he has released nearly two dozen albums. Lowe is a member of the quartet East Axis with Matthew Shipp, Gerald Cleaver, and Kevin Ray. A Love Supine: Ascension into the Maelstrom is an ambitious double-disc collection recorded in four sessions in 2018. The eighteen tracks were all composed by Lowe. The sessions ...
read moreChris Klaxton: Collage
by James Nadal
With each release, the current crop of young lions demonstrate they have what it takes to come up with novel ideas, keeping the music renewed. Since his 2014 debut of “Starcode,"--a foray into cosmic jazz--trumpeter Chris Klaxton has remained perpetually engaged and appears not to slow down on Collage , a patchwork of progressive jazz injected with futuristic nuances. Backed by most of the musicians from his first record, Klaxton's compositions are conceptual and focused. “Arise Automation," opens ...
read moreChris Klaxton: Starcode
by James Nadal
Oftentimes the back story behind the motivation and inspiration for songs compiled on a record is just as fascinating as the music itself. Case in point is trumpeter Chris Klaxton, whose interest in subjects as diverse as astrophysics, the intellectual philosophies of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, and spiritual continuity of life, culminated in his recording Starcode. Though all of this might sound complicated when applied to jazz, his music is grounded and accessible,implemented with profound sensitivity. The title track ...
read moreChris Klaxton is a prime example of ambitious players who are coming up today and breathing new life into the music. Well-schooled by top trumpet masters, he not only has the chops, but also the unbounded imagination needed to transmit his ideas with music.
—James Nadal, ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM
Music
Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
