Roger Ingram is one of the most sought after and prolific jazz lead trumpet players of our time. He grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s and was fortunate to study, perform, and record with some of Hollywood’s most successful studio musicians of that era. Roger has participated in hundreds of recordings with some of the most well-known jazz and pop artists. He has also performed on a multitude of movies scores and tv/radio commercials. Roger’s first road tour was with the Louie Bellson Big Band at age 16. The following summer, he toured with the Quincy Jones Big Band. He went on to play lead trumpet with the Connie Stevens Show, and the international pop star Tom Jones. In the early 1980s, he was immersed with playing production shows on the world renowned Las Vegas strip. After Las Vegas, he joined the Woody Herman Orchestra on lead trumpet in 1985, and remained with him until Herman’s death in 1987. Afterwards, Roger toured and recorded with dozens of performers, including Maynard Ferguson, Chico O’Farrill, Arturo Sandoval, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Ray Charles, Paul Anka, and a 20 year stint with the Harry Connick, Jr. Big Band. In between tours, Roger also actively participated in commercial recordings and Broadway productions in New York City.
In 2008, Roger penned the textbook, “Clinical Notes on Trumpet Playing” which has been sold in over 60 countries, and is on the required or recommended reading list for many undergraduate and graduate music programs world-wide. In 2009 Roger was instrumental in the design of the XO Series 1600I professional Bb trumpet and has been a Jupiter Artist and Clinician ever since.
A few of Roger’s notable accomplishments are the following: Roger, his XO 1600I trumpet, and the Ingram V-cup mouthpiece were inducted into Kentucky Museum’s “Instruments of American Excellence Collection” in September 2012; Lead trumpet on 2 Grammy winning recordings: Songs I Heard (Harry Connick, Jr.) and Danzón (Arturo Sandoval); Lead trumpet on 5 Grammy nominated recordings: Your Songs and Come By Me (Harry Connick, Jr.), 50th Anniversary Tour, Woody’s Gold Star, and The Concord Years (Woody Herman); Lead trumpet on the Pulitzer Prize winning recording, Blood on the Fields (Wynton Marsalis); Lead trumpet on the Broadway musical, Thou Shalt Not – 2 Nominations 2002 Tony Awards; Lead trumpet on the Broadway musical, The Pajama Game – 9 Nominations and 2 Winners 2006 Tony Awards; Roger released his critically acclaimed first album as a solo artist, titled “Roger Ingram Live at the College Hideaway with the Jim Stewart Orchestra,” on One Too Tree Records in 2014. Roger’s busy schedule includes performing at jazz festivals around the world, engaging in pedagogy tours where he presents masterclasses/clinics, gives private lessons, and performs as guest soloist with high school, university, and professional jazz ensembles. While home in the Chicago area, Roger is on faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, restores vintage trumpet mutes as “The Mute Meister,” gives private lessons, performs live concerts, and is often found in the recording studio.
