Brett Lemley, Trumpet

What makes a person choose a life in music? Even more so a life in jazz? The arguments against such a decision are so well known they’re cliché. The only explanation Brett has is that he’s not happy any other way.

“I got my first trumpet at 9. I played in the school band, and also in the local youth band. As I look back I realize that since that time, I’ve been involved in more musical activities than I had classes in school. Marching bands, jazz bands, brass groups, orchestras, if the group needed a trumpet, I was there. I couldn’t care less about math, but I could play any tune I knew in any key. If I forgot the melody, I made something up. I played solos, won awards, and knew all along that this was
what I wanted to do with my life.

I went to college. I played in the orchestra, wind ensemble, brass quintet, and jazz ensemble. When I graduated, I decided to make a living as a classical trumpet player, figuring that’s where the money was. My jazz idols at the time weren’t exactly role models: Chet Baker (a heroin addict who looked 70 before he was 50 and died when he nodded off while sitting in a second floor window), Freddie Hubbard (an alcoholic who couldn’t play unless he was drunk and ruined his chops in 1991), Charlie Parker (heroin, dead at 33). I figured the “legit” road was the way to go.

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