Max Ehrhardt

I was born and raised in Oakland, California surrounded by music and art culture my whole life. My love of music started as early as elementary school where I began playing guitar, violin, bass guitar, and trumpet. I’ve never been afraid to pick up an instrument; it's an opportunity to learn something new and to gain new perspectives on musical creation. In addition to my primary instrument of trumpet, I’ve added piano to my instrumental resume. Being a multi-instrumentalist helps me compose, arrange, and produce music.

As a young musician I attended Oaktown Jazz Workshops, a jazz education program in Jack London Square. Oaktown gave me a place outside of school in the larger community to work with other young jazz musicians from all over the Bay Area, learning about Black American music genres. Under the tutelage of multiple jazz professionals (Ravi Abcarian, Richard Howell, Geechi Taylor), we studied traditional jazz standards in many genres such as be-bop, Latin jazz, cool jazz, and funk, as well as contemporary neo-soul tunes. Oaktown encouraged us to formulate our own ideas while borrowing from tradition, in a space encouraging improvisation and experimentation. I was also lucky enough to attend Masterclasses hosted by Oaktown, learning from special guests like John Santos, George Cables, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah, and Jason Marsalis. I'm forever grateful to Oaktown Jazz Workshops for their education and ongoing support. I am now a youth mentor and music instructor, teaching private lessons to new Oaktown Jazz students.

Currently, I teach brass in public school settings to students 6th to 12th grades (Willard Middle school, and Skyline High School). Additionally, I teach private lessons to all ages.

In 2014, I was accepted into the Instrumental Jazz Music Department for trumpet at Oakland School for the Arts, a public charter school that offers an immersive arts education in a college preparatory setting. I loved OSA because the academics were rigorous (Honors Literature,  Honors Physics, AP Theory), while allowing me to play trumpet extensively every day in the big band and Jazz Messengers combo. The school also offered amazing learning opportunities from visiting luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis, Sean Jones and Myra Melford. OSA instructors in the instrumental department (Dave Ellis, Cava Menzies, Rafa Postel) have spent a large portion of their careers in the music industry as gigging musicians and imparted their experience and wisdom to all of their students. In addition to developing and honing the discipline of artistic practice, OSA taught me what it means to be a contributing member of a community as a member of the arts.

I have recently completed my Jazz Studies - Music Performance degree at University of the Pacific. While there, I studied with trumpet instructors Tom Perron and Joe Mazzaffero to further enrich my musical vocabulary and develop my own individual sound. UOP’s conservatory provided opportunities to perform with and attend master classes with top-level artists such as Cyrille Aimée, Walter Smith III, and Helen Sung to name a few. Additionally, I had the privilege of taking private lessons from some of these guest artists, such as Marquis Hill, Terrell Stafford, and Ashlin Parker. Under jazz department head Patrick Langham, my time at Pacific’s Conservatory has added an immeasurable amount of discipline, depth, and knowledge to my musicianship.

My time at Pacific has also helped form my career as a freelance music producer. After becoming more accustomed with Digital Audio Workstations, as well as studying sound recording, I found another way to express myself musically that isn’t limited by a physical instrument. During the summer of 2022, I released my first single “Simmer”, in collaboration with friend and fellow artist, Matthew Duldelao, aka “MaddMatt”. I am currently in collaboration with Central Valley artist, Eli Bocks, and can’t wait for you to hear what we’ve been creating!

I perform regularly in my community around the Bay Area with various musicians, through Oaktown Jazz Workshops, jam sessions, and cultural events like Oakland Art Murmur, and other events for the City of Oakland and Richmond. I've had the great fortune to perform at The Fox Theatre, the Paramount Theatre, and Yoshi's, as well as the Reno Jazz and Monterey Jazz Festivals.