Roger Ingram ranks amongst the finest jazz lead trumpet players in the music industry today. In addition to being a world renowned performer, he is also an educator and author. He is originally from Los Angeles, California, has lived in Las Vegas, Miami, and New York, and now resides in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Ingram presents master classes and brass clinics throughout the world and performs as soloist with high school, college and professional jazz ensembles. For the past four years, Roger has been a regular columnist for the British publication "The Brass Herald".
As a session musician, Roger has played on hundreds of recordings, movies scores, and commercials. Included among the many artists he has toured and recorded with are Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr, Ray Charles, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, Tom Jones, Paul Anka, Louis Bellson, The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra and Chico O'Farrill.
At sixteen, Roger toured with the great Louie Bellson Big Band. After graduating high school, he toured during the fall with the Quincy Jones Big Band on a tour to promote the Brothers Johnson. He went on to play lead trumpet with international pop star Tom Jones for six years. In 1985 he joined the Woody Herman Orchestra on lead trumpet and remained until Herman's death in October 1987. During his tenure with Woody's band, he recorded 3 albums, all of which were nominated for Grammy awards. Ingram also toured with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra in 1988, 1990 and 1992, recording three albums with Maynard's band. He later collaborated with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval on the Grammy Award winning album "Danzon." Subsequently, there are a number of other Arturo Sandoval "collection" albums that Roger appears on.
In the early 1980s, he was immersed with playing production shows on the world renowned Las Vegas strip working with Johnny Haig's (Haig Eshow) "Relief Band." Beginning in 1992, Roger spent 16 years as a resident of New York City. In addition to recording and performing on a multitude of jazz and commercial recordings, he was also involved with hundreds of live concerts as well as over 20 Broadway productions.
In 1990, Roger joined the newly formed big band of Harry Connick, Jr., recording 17 albums with Connick and working with Harry on a regular basis until 2010. Of the albums recorded with Harry, 3 were nominated for Grammy awards including "Songs I Heard" which won a Grammy award in 2001. In between tours with Harry Connick Jr., Roger also toured in the trumpet section (lead by Walt Johnson) with Frank Sinatra, and juggled his schedule to work simultaneously with Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Ingram appears on seven albums with Marsalis, including the 1997 Pulitzer-Prize winning "Blood on the Fields."
He left Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1997 to tour and record briefly with the legendary Ray Charles before returning to tour and record with Harry Connick Jr's big band again in 1997. (Harry broke up the big Band in 1993 to start a funk band; he made the decision to re-form his world famous big band a few years later.)
In 2008, Roger penned the trumpet textbook, "Clinical Notes on Trumpet Playing" which has been sold in over 65 countries, and is on the required or recommended reading list for many undergraduate and graduate music programs world-wide. Roger is an XO Brass/Jupiter Performing Artist and Clinician. In 2009, with the XO Brass design team, Roger was instrumental in the design of the XO Brass 1600I professional Bb trumpet.
Roger currently plays lead trumpet with Chicago's critically acclaimed New Standard Jazz Orchestra which is considered by many to be the premier jazz orchestra in Chicago. Roger also plays Assistant Principal Trumpet with the American Federation of Musician's (Local 10-208) City Symphony of Chicago. In addition, Roger is one of the Solo 1st Cornetists with the Prairie Brass Band of Arlington Heights.
Roger's busy schedule includes musical contracting, writing articles, performing on commercial jingles, big band recordings, live concert presentations, and Broadway shows and star acts in the Chicago area. Roger teaches private in-person and online lessons from his home music studio and regularly presents brass clinics for local high schools and universities. Mr. Ingram is also actively involved with the Association of Professional Orchestra Leaders (APOL) to further the promotion and advancement of live music performance in the Chicago area.
Roger Ingram is the owner of One Too Tree Productions, Publishing, Records and Products. Roger hires musicians and coordinates all musical requirements for shows, recording sessions and live events in the Chicago area. Information about orchestra contracting and live concert/session production through OneTooTree Productions is available.
Roger's Book: In 2008, Roger penned his first textbook "Clinical Notes on Trumpet Playing." This book is on the required/recommended reading list for many music programs. Clinical Notes on Trumpet Playing is available for shipping anywhere.
Roger's Mouthpieces: Roger designed the "Ingram Signature Line" of trumpet mouthpieces in 2008 which are available online. All Ingram Signature Line mouthpieces are manufactured by Peter Pickett of Pickett - Blackburn in Lexington, Kentucky. These mouthpieces are available through One Too Tree Music Products.
Mutes: In 2016 Roger designed a custom line of trumpet mutes which are manufactured by Warburton Music Products. These mutes are available online through MuteMeister.com.
Recordings as a leader: In 2014, Roger recorded "Live at the College Hideaway" and in 2015 recorded the critically acclaimed "Skylark" which is available through his RogerIngram.com website as well as iTunes, GooglePlay, and Amazon.
