Full History
In August 2003, the Festival of New Trumpet Music launched its inaugural season at Tonic, a New York City venue for avant-garde, creative, and experimental music. The Festival presented 40 performances over 19 nights, featuring an international lineup of trumpeters and composers representing the worlds of jazz, new music, free form, hip-hop, rock, improvisational, classical, and more. The program for each night included two or three groups. Festival co-founders Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell, Jr. agreed to reconvene a yearly festival of new music involving the trumpet.
In August 2004 the festival grew to include other venues such as the New York Bahai Center, The 14th Street Y, and Makor, as well as continuing performances at Tonic. Highlights included the return to the New York scene of trumpeter/composer Bill Dixon, as well as the inaugural performance by a group of 22 trumpeters entitled Trumpet Nation led by Butch Morris.
In August 2005 Jon Nelson joined Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell as co-directors of the festival. Over fifty events were presented, including a series called Seminar Week at Yamaha’s artist service center in midtown Manhattan. A week-long celebration of Lester Bowie at the Jazz Standard included performances by fourteen leading trumpeters. Twelve emerging artists were presented at the Chelsea art gallery Spark. A series called Other Music presented many groups at Tonic. 2005 also inaugurated an Advisory Board, comprised of many leading figures in new trumpet music.
The 4th Annual Festival of New Trumpet Music took place in New York City from September 15 to October 15, 2006. In this edition of the festival FONT initiated its commissioning program, which to date has commissioned works from over twenty composers and trumpeters. Major commissions have included Peter Evans, Amir El Saffar, Jason Palmer, Cuong Vu, Nadje Noordhuis, Laura Andel, Graham Forbes, Nate Wooley, Du Yun, and Chris DiMeglio. Also in 2006 FONT celebrated visionary trumpeter and composer Don Cherry with a performance of his Symphony for Improvisers at Merkin Hall. The ensemble was co-led by FONT co-founders Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell, Jr, and included bassist Henry Grimes, who performed on the original recording of that work.
In 2007, FONT established itself as a non-profit entity. As FONT continued to grow, more trumpeters entered the sphere of artistic planning and curating. This season Taylor Ho Bynum, Jeremy Pelt, and John McNeil began to play a major role curating portions of the festival. The board also grew to include brass stalwarts Laurie Frink, Mark Gould, Wilmer Wise, and Bob Malone, while Dave Douglas continued as president and director. The 5th annual Festival took place from September 16 to September 30, 2007 with events all over the city. Programing expanded in the 5th season to include concerts of contemporary classical music, from solo trumpet to chamber orchestra. Highlights included 8 world premieres, one by Wadada Leo Smith and a night dedicated to the brass music of Anthony Braxton.
FONT began the 2008 season with a gala concert and celebration of Wadada Leo Smith. Smith was the first to receive FONT’s newly conceived Award of Recognition for extraordinary contributions to the creative music community. A celebration of Louis Armstrong followed the next day, reexamining and reflecting on the modern legacy of trumpet genius Louis Armstrong. This years programs included 9 groups for the New Trumpet Underground series, commissions awarded to Chris DiMeglio, Nabaté Isles, Reut Regev, and a full day of solo trumpet performances. Also, a partnership with the Clean Feed Festival for Brass and Avant-Jazz at The Living Theater presented out of towners Kris Tiner and Dennis Gonzalez. At BRICstudio as well, Roy Campbell and Dennis González led a masterclass with the York College Blue Notes and a FONT Jam Session. The Grassroots Classical series at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery featured music for trumpet by two of New York’s most active composer collectives, Anti-Social Music and …. The 6th season culminated in a 3 day Celebration of Woody Shaw at Jazz Standard with some of the world’s top trumpeters, including Sean Jones, Randy Brecker, Josh Evans, Ingrid Jensen, and Tim Hagans.
In 2009 FONT decided to split its season into three parts, presenting different facets of contemporary brass work in three to five day series’.
New Trumpet Underground 2009, the first event of FONT’s 7th annual concert season, ran from June 26-28 at Cornelia Street Cafe. Curated by Taylor Ho Bynum and Chris DiMeglio, this three-day event focused on younger, emerging and experimental trumpet players. These performances, including the world premiere of a commission by Nadje Noordhuis, were augmented by daytime educational offerings from Laurie Frink and John McNeil as part of FONT Music’s Workshop Series. Over 30 students attended free studio visits with Frink and McNeil in New York City.
Bobby Bradford will receive the 2009 Award of Recognition this October and perform two nights at Jazz Standard with his own groups, including saxophonist David Murray. Award-winning trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire will compose a work honoring Bradford for his Quartet plus special guest trumpeter Avishai Cohen. Jeremy Pelt, James Zollar, Eddie Henderson and Baikida Carroll will also take part in this series, paying tribute to Bradford and his music.
In January 2010, FONT presented “Forward Flight”, four nights of music at the Abrons Arts Center. Highlights included a tribute to legendary trumpeter Wilmer Wise; Wise and Lew Soloff performing a rarely heard composition by Ornette Coleman for trumpet, string quartet, and percussion; commissioning three members of the Pulse Composer’s Federation (Darcy James Argue, JC Sanford, and Joseph Phillips Jr.) to reimagine other Coleman pieces for the same instrumentation; a night of the brass music of Charles Wuorinen; commissioning a new work by composer David Sanford for the Meridian Arts Ensemble; and performances by the Chicago Underground Duo, the Low Anthem, and Open Circuit, an international improvising trumpet summit with performers from France, Japan, Austria, and the US. In partnership with Ars Nova Workshop, FONT also presented its first satellite festival, bringing the Meridian Arts Ensemble, Chicago Underground Duo, and Open Circuit to Philadelphia for an exciting one-night triple bill.
Titled WE SPEAK (For the observant jazz heads out there, catch the Booker Little reference.) the June 2011 concert series started with an all-acoustic concert hall at the Rubin Museum of Art; Stephen Haynes, Stanton Davis, Wadada Leo Smith, William Parker, Warren Smith, and Taylor Ho Bynum paying musical tribute to Bill Dixon. It was a beautiful night of music, and the first time Stanton and Wadada ever played together. On Sunday, Wadada’s Golden Quartet, with Pheeroan akLaff, John Lindberg, and Angelica Sanchez, brought their exquisite sound to NYC.Then on Tuesday, FONT met the Vision Festival. The symbolism of two grassroots, artist-run organizations working together, especially in times as tough as these for the general arts economy, was very powerful. The Vision Festival is the contemporary standard bearer in NYC for that model of DIY arts activism, and it’s incredibly inspirational that they’ve stayed strong for 16 years. Amir ElSaffar’s music was a fully realized microtonal language equally fluent in post-modern jazz and traditional Iraqi maqam. We had two films by Robert O’Haire and Jeff Burns, always inspiring to see Joseph Daley talk about writing for the low-end of his orchestra, and to hear Bill Dixon tell us what it is in the studio. Ted Daniel brought a joyful spirit to the music of King Oliver, connecting the dots between today, the NYC lofts of the ’70s, and the New Orleans of the ’20s. Whether Stephanie Richards’ horn was underwater or wrapped in aluminum foil, she played beautifully, making sounds that relished in their timbral manipulations. Tomasz Stanko’s new quartet with Mark Helias, Sylvie Courvoisier, and Mark Feldman kept an improvisational fire bubbling in a chamber instrumentation. Stanko’s sound was gorgeous, alternating between lush and raw in a manner that would do Dixon or Cherry or Miles proud. Jonathan Finlayson closed out the night with a powerful and sweaty set, expertly navigating the rhythmic and intervallic complexities of his chess-inspired music.
The fall 2011 series closed out FONTs 9th season and celebrated Kenny Wheeler, one of the most creative and iconic of progressive trumpeters at JAZZ STANDARD, one of the nation’s premier jazz clubs. Wheeler, a Canadian residing in the UK since 1952, celebrated his 81st birthday this year. He made a rare New York appearance in this series devoted to his music and vision. The Festival also presented a cadre of progressive New York trumpeters, among them Ingrid Jensen, Shane Endsley, Nate Wooley, Jonathan Finlayson, Tony Kadleck, and Jon Owens. As part of this celebration, Kenny Wheeler was featured with Ingrid Jensen + Brass, played his music alongside John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, and also convened a New York Quintet with longtime friend Dave Holland and featuring Jon Irabagon, Craig Taborn, and Rudy Royston.
Kenny Wheeler commented on being honored by FONT Music and returning to NYC: I first came to New York in the late 40′s. I was with a big band attached to the American forces and I had joined with the sole purpose of getting to New York. I just wanted to find and maybe talk to Miles. I couldn’t find him but in the process I had a really short (even for me) conversation with Charlie Parker. I was so disappointed I had missed Miles that it wasn’t until hours later I realized I had actually spoken to Bird! By that time though New York had gone from being in my head to being in my blood, heart and soul. It’s where most of the Jazz I listened to before and after that trip was born. Although I have played in New York a few times over the years every time I come back I still feel the same excitement I felt that first time I visited all those years ago. For me New York is the place to play. The fact that I am being honored with a New York week and that so many fantastic trumpet players are involved is overwhelming. I am so proud and, before my nerves get the better of me, I would just like to say thank you to all of the people who have put this event together and thank you to New York for giving me the opportunity to come back and play here again.