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Ray Callender
About Me
Ray Callender was born in Winfield, Illinois. The son of
Charles Callender, a
Chicago trumpeter and craftsman at Schilke Music Products,
his love for the
instrument began at an early age. However, his love for the
music didn't
develop until early high school, sparked by a double-sided
tape of
Kind of Blue and Jazz at Massey Hall. He was hooked.
Callender began to
study the masters, especially Freddie Hubbard, Clifford
Brown, Miles Davis,
and Woody Shaw, and his diligence earned him numerous
honors while still in
high school, including “Best Soloist” at the Chicago Area Jazz
Festival,
“Outstanding Soloist” at the Rolling Meadows Jazz Festival,
and the 1996
Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. Callender graduated Cum
Laude from the University of North Florida jazz program
where
he studied with legendary
alto saxophonist Bunky Green. He performed with and
composed for the top
jazz ensemble and combo and was the featured trumpet
soloist on UNF's
Down Beat award-winning albums, Things To Come, Second
Thoughts, and
Through His Eyes, as well as recording with notable
pianist/educator Dr. Keith
Javors on his 2004 Zoho Records release, Mo'
City Jungle.
In 2003, after winning an audition amongst thousands of
emerging jazz
artists from all around the globe, Callender was selected by
jazz legend Curtis
Fuller as a Jazz Star of Tomorrow. As a result, he
performed in Betty
Carter's Jazz Ahead Program at the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C. where he worked with esteemed artists
including Fuller,
Winard Harper, Carmen Lundy, Jimmy Owens, and John
Clayton. He was also
one of only four trumpeters nationwide selected to attend a
summer
residency at the Steans Institute Program for Jazz at Ravinia,
where he had
the opportunity to work with such venerable mentors as Dr.
David Baker, James Moody, Rufus Reid, Danilo Perez, and
Nathan Davis as well as perform with up and coming players
like Aaron Parks, Kim Thompson, and Maurice Brown. In
addition, he was recognized twice by Down Beat magazine for
Best Collegiate Jazz Combo (2002-2003).
Callender has performed in concert with such artists as Dave
Brubeck, Clark
Terry, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Jon Faddis, James
Moody, Antonio Hart,
Benny Green, Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Billy Childs, Pat
Martino, Snarky Puppy, Maurice
Hines, Eddie Palmieri, Conrad Herwig, Dennis Mackrel, Percy
Heath, Doug
Carn, Ben Tucker, Calvin Newborn, Michael Carvin, Delbert Felix, Steve Nelson, John Lee,
Billy Kilson, Ignacio Berroa,
Albert Tootie
Heath, Bobby Shew, Marcus Printup, the Ritz Jazz Orchestra, the St. Johns
River City Band,
Bruce Paulson, and Bob Mintzer. Groups featuring Callender
have performed
at such venues as the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea
Jazz Festival, the
Vienne Jazz Festival, the Savannah Jazz Festival, the
Jacksonville Jazz Festival,
the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room, Joe Segal's Jazz
Showcase, the Velvet
Lounge, the International Association of Jazz Educators
conference, the
Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and the Notre Dame
Jazz
Festival.
Callender has held faculty positions at Florida State College
and Duval County
Public Schools and currently teaches at the Morris Music
Academy and the Friese Studio of Music as well as performing
regularly throughout the Southeast.