Jack Walrath

An American post-bop jazz trumpeter, composer, conductor, author, educator and musical arranger, Jack Walrath is best recognized for his work with Ray Charles, Gary Peacock, Charles Mingus and Glenn Ferris.

At the age of nine, Walrath began playing the trumpet in Edgar, Montana. He studied composition at Berklee College of Music graduating in 1968, where he began regularly playing and gaining exposure. Upon moving to the West Coast in 1969 he co-led the band Change with Gary Peacock and Revival with Glenn Ferris. He toured with Ray Charles for a year and toured with Charles Mingus from 1974 to 1979. Walrath contributed some arrangements and orchestrations to Mingus' final recordings.

Throughout the 1980s and 90s Walrath led his own bands including The Jack Walrath Group, Wholly Trinity, Hard Corps, The Masters Of Suspense, and was also leader of the Mingus Dynasty and The Charles Mingus Big Band. He toured Europe with Dannie Richmond and the group Spirit Level, performing with Charlie Persip's Superband and with Richard Abrams. He has performed with talents such as Sam Rivers,Mike Clark, Joe Morello, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Bobby Watson, and many more. He has appeared in films, TV and Radio as a leader and sideman, releasing 22 record albums as a leader. He has received composition grants from the National Endowment For The Arts, the Aaron Copland Composition Grant and from the Mary Flagler Cary Trust. He has written liner notes and articles for Downbeat and the Music Review, and holds master classes throughout North America. He has written compositions and arrangements for Mingus, Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan, Cecil Brooks III, the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, WDR, NDR, UMO Orchestra, Catania City Jazz Orchestra, Charli Persip Superband, Upper Austrian Jazz Orchestra. He continues to further develop his craft today.