Abe Mamet

Lauded as D.C.’s “major jazz French horn player” by the Washington Post, and named one of 2023's "artists to watch" by DCist, Abe Mamet is a composer and instrumentalist committed to using his music to ground himself, his fellow musicians, and his audiences more deeply in the spaces they occupy daily. That commitment involves exploring the use of the French horn in groove-oriented improvised music (informed by the traditions of jazz/creative music/Black American Music), and expanding the technical and theoretical limitations of that instrument. In March 2023, Abe took part in 577 Records' "Sounds of Freedom" Residency in Canale Monterano, Italy. In 2024, Abe received the Prince George’s County Arts and Humanities Council’s Community Grant Award, which supported a major new work for septet: "levitate the heavy part," out March 2025 on LMB records.

All of Abe's original music can be found on his Bandcamp page.

At the age of 8, he began playing the French horn, which continues to be his main instrument today.

Whereas many French horn players only find jazz and creative music after restlessness with the world of classical and chamber music, Abe has been immersed in this world almost since his beginnings on the horn. Encouraged by his grandfather, a jazz musician active in mid-century Philadelphia, Abe pursued jazz and improvisation shortly after picking up the horn in elementary school. Bolstered by the untold blessing that is a robust and well-funded public school arts education, Abe's connection to jazz deepened. Particularly under the direction of Keith Oxman at Denver's historic East High School (fellow alums include Ron Miles, Bill Frisell, and Philip Bailey), Abe found himself entering airspace occupied by only a few before him - as a French horn player with jazz as his main, if not only, focus.

While a student at Colorado College, Abe received a student-faculty collaborative research grant from the Mellon Foundation to work with Professor Ryan Bañagale to study the history of the horn in jazz, and to transcribe work from its most important forebears, including Julius Watkins, David Amram, and Willie Ruff.  Through that project, Abe was introduced to the living core of musicians associated with the French horn in jazz, and became connected with David Amram, Morris Kliphuis, Tom Varner, Vincent Chancey, and John Clark. After graduating from Colorado College in 2017 with a degree in Political Science and History, Abe relocated to the East Coast. In 2018, he began formal lessons with John Clark, placing him squarely in the lineage of horn players influenced directly by the work of Julius Watkins.

Abe is a first-call horn for hire in large- and small-format creative music ensembles in DC and New York CIty. He has collaborated with countless artists, including William Parker, Frank Lacy, the AFree Symphony, Il Volo, Sarah Brightman, and Robert Lee "BJ" Simmons. In April 2021, Abe won the Northwest Horn Symposium’s competition for best jazz hornist. In November 2021, he released his debut album as a bandleader through LMB Records, entitled "The Abe Mamet Trio," available exclusively on Bandcamp. Since then, he has released two experimental tapes: 2023’s “The Thing We Fought For” on LMB Records/Estavelle Records, and 2024’s “Spa Day” on Shiny Boy Press.

In March 2023, Abe took part in 577 Records’ “Sounds of Freedom” Residency in Canale Monterano, Italy.

In February 2025, Abe will release “levitate the heavy part,” a major new work for septet via DC’s LMB Records. Other forthcoming work includes the debut of Also Chosen, a trio with Keith Butler, Jr. and Zoë Jorgenson-Speirs, and the debut of  Cutting Ceremony, a Philadelphia-based improvised trio with Pete Dennis and Tracy Lisk.