Brandon Lee

Biography

Widely regarded as one of the most sought-after trumpet players of his generation, Brandon Lee currently performs with several esteemed bands, including the Count Basie Orchestra, Christian McBride Big Band, Birdland Big Band, and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He also performs with Darcy James Argue and The Secret Society, Eyal Vilner Big Band, Helen Sung Bug Band, and many others in the New York City area.

Lee also performs regularly with his own band. As a bandleader, he has released three albums: From Within, Absolute-Lee, and his latest, Common Thread. Additionally, he co-leads the Uptown Jazz Tentet, which has recorded two albums: There It Is, and What’s Next. As a sideman, Lee has recorded over 30 albums and has received a total of four Grammy Awards for his collaborations with the Count Basie Orchestra, Christian McBride Big Band, and the Tony Award-winning musical, Some Like It Hot.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas in a musical family, Lee’s musical journey started at the age of five when he began playing the piano. At the age of nine, he chose the trumpet, and his passion for jazz ignited around the age of eleven. At sixteen, Lee established a significant connection with Wynton Marsalis through Essential Ellington. This pivotal moment led him to be one of the eighteen students selected in the inaugural class of the jazz studies program at The Juilliard School, where he earned three music degrees. His instructors included Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, Terell Stafford, and the legendary Joe Wilder.

From 2009 to 2012, Lee served as a jazz studies faculty member at Juilliard, becoming one of the youngest faculty members to ever teach at the esteemed institution. From 2013 to 2018, he relocated to North Carolina to pursue a college teaching position for the Miles Davis Studies program at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Lee returned to New York in 2018, eager to explore new avenues as a performer, co-leader, composer/arranger, and educator.

In addition to being a free-lance jazz musician, Lee also works full-time on the Broadway musical Death Becomes Her, and teaches jazz trumpet at New York University. Lee is a Bach trumpet artist and an AR Resonance Mouthpiece artist.

SPECIALTIES:
Jazz improvisation
Jazz competitions
Jazz arranging
Trad jazz
Swing
Be-Bop
Hard Bop
Post Bop
Modern jazz

LANGUAGES:
English