Trumpeter/hornist Jeff Stockham is well-known to Upstate New York music fans. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and a veteran of the renowned Eastman Jazz Ensemble, his performance credits read like a Who’s Who of the upstate New York music scene. He has performed with the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, Salt City Jazz Collective, the Stan Colella Orchestra, the Mario DeSantis Orchestra, The Fabulous Ripcords, Second Line Syracuse, The Blacklites, The Destination, Little Georgie & the Shufflin’ Hungarians, Larry Arlotta, the Bearcat Jass Band, the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble, Joe Salzano & the Blue Devils, Atlas, Danny D’Imperio’s Big Band Bloviation, the Syracuse Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and many other regional mainstays.
Big Stage
He has backed up numerous national artists including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra Jr., Rosemary Clooney, Aretha Franklin, Josh Groban, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Goulet, Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis, Wayne Newton, Tommy Tune, Marvin Hamlisch, Jeff Muldauer, Al Martino, Don Rickles, Jimmy Cavallo, Jerry Vale, Leslie Gore, Shari Lewis, and many others. He has been a member of the orchestra for the national touring company of Les Miserables. He has toured Europe and Africa with Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Johnson. He was a member of “Dreaming The Duke”, a project blending jazz and classical treatments of the music of Duke Ellington, which featured vocalists Nnenna Frelon and Harolyn Blackwell.
French Horn is a Jazz Instrument
Jeff is also one of the few musicians worldwide to play jazz on French horn. He was a Featured Artist at the 2016 International Horn Symposium at Ithaca College, performing classic jazz that utilized French horn, and was a Featured Artist at the 2018 Mid-South Horn Workshop. He is trumpeter and French hornist in Thelonius Monk Jr.’s “Monk on Monk” big band, with which he has toured Europe, Israel, and the United States several times, and with which he has had the opportunity to perform in concert with jazz luminaries such as Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Watson, Wallace Roney, Don Braden, Howard Johnson, Ronnie Matthews, Danilo Perez, Gerri Allen, Diane Reeves, Nnenna Frelon, Jacky Terrasson, Helen Sung, James Knowles, Bobby Porcelli, Kevin Mahogany, Marcus Roberts, Willie Williams, John Fedchock, and Joe Henderson. He has also appeared in concert on trumpet in the T.S. Monk Sextet.
With the “Dreaming The Duke” Ensemble, he has performed with such world-class musicians as pianist Mike Garson (known for his work with David Bowie), sopranos Nnenna Frelon and Harolyn Blackwell, drummer Adonis Rose, saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, trombonist Andrew Hunter, and violist Ron Lawrence.
Jeff has also been a member of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, one of the preeminent jazz ensembles in Europe. The personnel included such celebrated musicians as Lew Soloff, Howard Johnson, Joe Magnarell
i, Alex Sipiagin, Dave Bargeron, Scott Robinson, Gary Smulyan, Chris Hunter, Sal Giorgianni, Luciano Biondini, and Tanya Darby.
As a charter member of the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, he has performed over the last 20 years with a host of top jazz artists including Clark Terry, Rob McConnell, Phil Woods, Eddie Daniels, Howard Johnson, Houston Person, Marcus Printup, Wallace Roney, Joe Locke, Bill Dobbins, Jimmy Heath, Claudio Roditi, Al Vizzutti, Dan Miller, Byron Stripling, Michael Phillip Mossman, Bob Berg, Antonio Hart, Bob Mintzer, Gary Smulyan, Rufus Reid, Michael Davis, Slide Hampton, Kevin Mahogany, Diane Schuur, and many others.
Jeff Stockham’s Stockpile of Gear
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Jeff is the official track bugler at Vernon Downs and Tioga Downs 1959 Conn 10B trumpet
- 1974 Getzen Severinsen LB trumpet
- 1976 Schilke B6 trumpet
- 1972 Yamaha YFL-731 flugelhorn
- 1977 F.E. Olds Clark Terry flugelhorn
- 1970s Miraphone 4-rotary-valve flugelhorn
- 1980s King 1130 Flugabone
- 1980s Bach Stradivarius valve trombone
- 1950s Mount Vernon Bach Stradivarius base trumpet
- 1959 F.E. Olds O–49 5–valve single Bb French horn
- 1979 Holton 180 French horn
- 1865 Hall & Quinby side-action-rotary Eb cornet
CDs of the Excelsior Coronet Band
Available on the website.
Jeff Stockham’s Professional Affiliations
- Local 78, American Federation of Musicians
- International Horn Society
Related Links
French Horn Basics with Michael Manley
Jeff Stockham Talks about Civil War Instruments and His Role in the Movie, “Lincoln”
Historic Instruments with Jeff Stockham
