terell stafford
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Trumpet ace Terell Stafford is one of the more recent members of the line of accomplished Jazz musicians emanating from Philadelphia. By his own admission he didn’t start to take Jazz seriously until 1981, but a Master of Music degree in classical trumpet from Rutgers University has endowed him with an enviable fluency and roundness of tone.
A chance musical encounter led him to join HORIZON, Bobby Watson’s notable hard-bop quintet, in 1990. The ensuing five years with HORIZON added a practical reality to Stafford ’s academic grounding, taking him on regular European tours that included the Montreux Jazz Festival (1992) and the North Sea Jazz Festival (1994). With Watson’s group Terell has played New York’s Blue Note and Sweet Basil, appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Jazz Times Convention.
Since the mid-1990’s Terell has been performing as an integral part of various jazz groups led by such stellar performers as Cedar Walton, Sadao Watanabe, the Clayton Brothers, Herbie Mann, Kenny Barron, Matt Wilson and many New York based big bands including Jon Faddis’ Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band and the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Stafford has appeared on television (Tonight Show with Jay Leno, You Bet Your Life with Bill Cosby); the soundtrack for the feature film, A Bronx Tale, and on NPR’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center , where he performed as featured guest artist with the Billy Taylor Trio. In 1997/1998 Terell toured Europe with the CARNEGIE HALL JAZZ BAND and the GEORGE GRUNZ ORCHESTRA as well as appearing on festivals in Spain, the Estoril Jazz Festival in Portugal and the Wigan and Candid Jazz Festivals in England. 1998 was a particularly busy year for Terell with engagements at the Jazz Standard and Sweet Basil Clubs in New York City.
In the fall of 1998, Terell toured Europe again, fronting his regular band, featuring Victor Lewis on drums. He also joined THE TRUMPET SUMMIT BAND, sharing the stage with such luminaries as Clark Terry, Benny Bailey, Jon Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton and, in August 1999, Wynton Marsalis. In July 1999 Terell toured Europe again with the JAM SESSION package, a contemporary version of the classic Norman Granz’s Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts. The band was featured in most of the major European Festivals, such as North Sea, Umbria, Vienne, Vitoria, Molde, Stockholm, Antibes, etc. With Randy Brecker, Lew Soloff and Jon Faddis, Terell was also part of the massive European tour of THE TRUMPET SUMMIT BAND in July of 2000, doing a tribute to Louis Armstrong.
Terell has recorded 3 times with HORIZON, also with Stephen Scott, Lafayette Harris and with his friend and musical sibling saxophonist Tim Warfield, whom he invited on the rite-of-passage album for Candid, Time to Let Go. This was his first album as leader, marking the moment he felt appropriate to strike out on his own. Here Stafford ’s vigorous attack, liquid delivery and keen melodic sense are balanced by a poise and patience normally found in the playing of trumpet elder statesmen. His second album, Centripetal force, also on Candid, included two HORIZON alumni, Stephen Scott and drummer Victor Lewis, plus Warfield and talented guitarist Russell Malone. For it he added vibes, French horn, guitar and percussion, moving his recording career into a new dimension with beautiful arrangements, original voicings and great swing; there are terrific versions of Skylark, Old Devil Moon, Somebody Bigger Than You Or I, and Clifford Brown’s classic Daahoud. His next recording, Fields of Gold , on the Nagel Heyer label, featured a superb blend of classic and contemporary material, including exquisite renditions of Jazz standards like Ill wind or That’s all. New Beginnings, his newest CD, was released in 2003 by the MaxJazz label.
In addition to his work as a performer, Terell maintains a high profile in Jazz education. He is currently full-time Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, the prestigious Vail Foundation in Colorado and Jazz at Lincoln Center ’s Essentially Ellington Program. He also served as a member of the faculty for the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies in New York.
for more information, please visit www.terellstafford.com