Kelly Rossum Biography

Kelly Rossum is a jazz trumpet player and composer currently residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota U.S.A. His most recent album, Family, will be released in August of 2008. This recording features Bryan Nichols on piano, Chris Bates on acoustic bass and JT Bates on drums.

Born in 1970, Kelly Rossum was fortunate to arrive into a musical family. His father was a clarinetist in college and in the Army band and his mother was an accomplished pianist at an early age. As a young child, Kelly was surrounded by music, both on the quadraphonic stereo and live in the family room. As many children of the 70's may remember, Sesame Street was a daytime hit and a pioneer in children's television. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie once played as a guest on that show, and Kelly was hooked.

After graduating high school in 1988, Kelly continued down a path of musical education at universities throughout the Midwest United States. First, while earning his Bachelor of Music, he studied with the renowned trumpet professor Dennis Schneider at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The University of North Texas, well known for their jazz program, is where Kelly earned his Master of Music degree. He studied with many fine instructors during his stay in Texas, including: Keith Johnson, Dr. Leonard Candelaria, Mike Steinel, Paris Rutherford and Neil Slater. After UNT, he graduated with his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Minnesota, under the tutelage of Dr. David Baldwin.

His first recording as a leader, Party's Over/Begun, was released in 2002 through Yebo Productions. Rossum's second recording, Renovation, was included in the “Twin Cities Critics Tally: The top 20 local albums of 2004” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and was chosen by the City Pages among the “Top 10 local albums of the year.” His next release, Line, was a concept album devoted to exploring free harmonies through melodic development.

Family, Kelly’s newest recording, brings the story full circle. With a musical nod to Miles Davis, Willy Wonka, Sesame Street, and the family cat; plus original compositions from Rossum and band members Bryan Nichols and Chris Bates, this recording contains both traditional jazz elements and modern genre bending combinations.

Kelly Rossum has performed with musicians from all over the world; including, Bob Mintzer (USA), Denis Colin (France), Ted Nash (USA), Darin Pantoomkomol (Thialand), Bengt Eklund (Sweden), Phil Hey (USA), Jun Miyake (Japan), Woody Witt (USA), Ignacio ‘Nachito’ Herrera (Cuba), Joe LoCascio (USA), Vyacheslav Shumilov (Russia), Anthony Cox (USA), Sir David Wilcox (Great Britain), Alexander Serguencko (Russia), Wessell ‘Warmdaddy’ Anderson (USA), Eric Miyashiro (Japan), Juni Booth (USA), as well as the Sun Ra Impossible Space Circus (USA), and his own quartet of world class musicians (USA).

Now Kelly is gaining a regional reputation as a creative force in the definition of modern jazz. It is difficult to describe his style as anything but unique; combining the traditions of swing, bop and free jazz with the innovations of electronica, ambient and trance music. Kelly has presented music master classes in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has appeared on more than 40 CD recordings and is currently the Jazz Coordinator at MacPhail Center for Music in downtown Minneapolis.


Source: http://www.krossum.com/about/printbio.html
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