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Kal Ferretti

Kal Ferretti is a 22 year old jazz trumpet player, composer, and educator. She is currently making herself known as a serious young musician on the New York City jazz scene. Kal grew up in New York City and started playing classical trumpet before switching to jazz while studying at the prestigious LaGuardia High School. 

Kal has worked with artists/bands such as the Christian McBride Big Band, Matt Wilson and “Permission Slip”, the Mingus Big Band/Dynasty, saxophonist Dave Glasser, trumpet player Bruce Harris, bassist Ben Allison, JALC’s Future of Jazz Orchestra, Helen Sung Big Band and Ted Nash Big Band. She also leads her own quartet and most recently, debuted the Kal Ferretti Big Band at Dizzy’s Club. Other recent performance highlights include being a part of the JALC curated Kenny Dorham Centennial Celebration trumpet summit at Dizzy’s Club, a 4 night run at Birdland with bassist Ben Allison’s new project “Unit 5”, Ellington’s “Night Creature” with Alvin Ailey at NY City Center, and the 2023 NEA Jazz Masters Award Ceremony with the Mingus Dynasty. She has also performed as a special guest with the Eastern Wind Symphony at Princeton University and the Laguardia High School Alumni Brass Quintet. Kal is also passionate about education and along with having her own private studio of trumpet students, she has served as a teaching assistant for Jazz House Kids Summer Jazz Academy. She also appears on the Grace Fox Big Band debut record “Eleven O’ Seven.”

 In recent months, she has performed at venues such as Birdland, the Kennedy Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club, Rose Theater, David Geffen Hall, Ornithology Jazz Club, and the Bimhuis. She has been part of various honor bands/programs including the JAS Academy Big Band directed by Christian McBride, 2023 JEN Sisters In Jazz Combo, 2023 Festival of New Trumpet Music, Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, Hudson Jazz Workshop, WIJO Mentors, and All City High School Jazz band. With these bands she has attended the Essentially Ellington regional competitions, was a finalist for the Charles Mingus High School Competition, and played for the Jazz at Lincoln Center (Jazz for Young People) “Who is Mary Lou Williams” concert. 

 Kal is a current master student at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with trumpet player Ingrid Jensen. Kal recently graduated from The New School for Jazz on a full scholarship and was mentored under esteemed faculty such as Reggie Workman, Buster Williams, David Glasser, and studied trumpet with Bruce Harris, Tatum Greenblatt, Jimmy Owens, and Alex Norris. She has represented The New School at the Keep an Eye Jazz Award in Amsterdam, leading her band at Bern Jazz Festival, and was one of three students that participated in the 32nd annual International Association of Schools of Jazz Conference. 

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Rising Stars

Introducing Trumpeter Kal Ferretti

Read "Introducing Trumpeter Kal Ferretti" reviewed by Sanford Josephson


When she was attending the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, Kal Ferretti rode the subway to Manhattan from her home in Staten Island. The music on her phone was Art Blakey's Moanin' (Blue Note, 1958). “I would wear that out every train ride," she said. The 22-year-old Ferretti always wanted to play the trumpet, but she soon became bored with performing in a classical setting. “I ended up not totally digging just sitting there in the orchestra," she ...

28
Album Review

Grace Fox Big Band: Eleven O'Seven

Read "Eleven O'Seven" reviewed by Jack Bowers


In the long history of jazz, it is rare for a teenage musician to establish a big band, let alone lead one. In fact (historians will have to verify this), it may never have happened. One thing is certain—no teenage woman has ever formed a big band and become its leader. Until now. Meet trumpeter Grace Fox, a nineteen-year-old student at the Manhattan School of Music, founder and leader of the seventeen-member, all-female Grace Fox Big Band, which has recorded ...

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