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Nick Roseboro

Brooklyn based trumpeter, composer, and educator

About Me

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Nick Roseboro, started learning the trumpet in the fourth grade and has been playing it ever since. At the age of 13, his friends exposed him to jazz. His teacher and mentor, Robert E. Knatt, invited him to play in the jazz band.

“He was very strict, but he was very dedicated,” said Roseboro. “It really inspired me to keep playing.”

Roseboro subsequently joined the nationally-acclaimed Garfield High School Jazz Band under the direction of Clarence Acox. Completely committed to his music career, Roseboro moved to New York City in August 2001, at the age of 19. There, he studied with Reggie Workman, Billy Harper, Charles Tolliver, Junior Mance, Eddie Henderson, Cecil Bridgewater, Jimmy Owens, Charli Persip, Jane Ira Bloom, and Rachel Z, at The New School. He quickly created a name for himself while performing at clubs like the Zinc Bar, Sweet Rhythm, the Jazz Gallery, and many others.

“I fell in love with the city,” he said.

In 2008, Roseboro was selected to be part of a special group honoring Woody Shaw and his music (The Brass Knights). This group featured the trumpet frontline of Sean Jones and Ezana Edwards and included the rhythm section of Mulgrew Miller, Dwayne Burno and Victor Lewis. Roseboro now works with regularly with Rachel Z and has performed with Winard Harper, Joe Chambers, Rene Marie, Kenny Barron, Ralph Peterson, Omar Hakim, Clark Terry, Don Braden, and many more.

Now based out of Brooklyn, Roseboro has been leading his own quintet since 2007. The Nick Roseboro Quintet features Roseboro on trumpet, as well as Travis Reuter on guitar, Jarod Kashkin on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Rogério Boccato on drums. Roseboro released his album, “Passageway,” on Truth Revolution Records in the fall of 2012.

“The concept of the album is life,” he said, noting that it is somewhat inspired by his arrival in New York, and the peaks and valleys of moving from place to place.

The project grew out of Roseboro’s journey to musically find himself and has an emphasis on improvising and creating music on the spot, starting with a theme and developing it from there.

“I figured out how I wanted to go about my band and new music,” he said. “It started with my senior recital in December 2006. I threw out some of my written music as a band composed on the spot. It was refreshing and fresh at the same time. In 2007, I landed a monthly gig in which I was able to do the same concept with a quartet setting trumpet, guitar, bass, and drums.”

In addition to his own group, he has also recorded with the 80’s dance band, Midnight Magic, as well as many other artists like Albert Rivera, Lakecia Benjamin, and others. He has performed all over the U.S., as well as in Norway, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada. He has made an appearance LCD Soundsystem final tour and Macklemore.

- Jessica Daivs