Darren Barrett

Darren Barrett [1] is a Canadian jazz musician who won the 1997 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition,[2][3][4] and is a professor at Berklee College of Music.[4][5]

Darren Barrett
dB in Action
Background information
Birth nameDarren Barrett
GenresJazz, Pop, Reggae, R&B, Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Funk
Occupation(s)Musician, music educator, songwriter, bandleader, music producer, music engineer, photographer, videography
InstrumentsTrumpet, flugelhorn, EVI
Years active1991–present
LabelsJCurve, Nagel Heyer Records, dB Studios
Associated actsdB Quintet, Straight Down the Middle, Trumpet Vibes, dB-ish, Energy In Motion, The EVI Sessions, Jackie McLean Quintet, Roy Hargrove Big Band, Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, D'Angelo, Queen Latifah, Esperanza Spalding, Common, Antonio Hart Quintet, Myron Walden Momentum, Earth Driver
Websitehttp://www.darrenbarrett.com/

Biography

Canadian Grammy Award winning trumpet player Darren Barrett was born to Jamaican parents. Darren remembers that, "the first time I heard Miles Davis was on the record ‘Round About Midnight, and when I heard Miles’ sound and approach, I knew that the instrument I wanted to play was the trumpet."

Upon graduating high school, Barrett attended Humber College's Jazz program in Toronto, Ontario and eventually spent a year there and won the Boddington's Music Brass Award for excellence in performance. In 1986, Darren Barrett attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, receiving a BA in Professional Music in 1990. He went on to receive an MA in Jazz Performance in 1993, and an MS in Music Education from Queens College in 1995. It was there that he came under the influence of Dr. Donald Byrd, who became something of a father figure for the young trumpeter.[6] "My quest for a Doctorate degree was interrupted by a special program that was being developed, called the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, at the New England Conservatory of Music." In 1997, Barrett earned a Diploma in Jazz Performance from the Thelonious Monk Institute, where he was a member of the inaugural class and "studied with Barry Harris, Wynton Marsalis, and Clark Terry, getting the opportunity to perform alongside Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter".[7] In 1997, Barrett entered and won first place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the biggest jazz competition in the world, which highlights a different instrument each year.

Barrett went on to release his first album as a bandleader, First One Up, in 1999, followed by Deelings in 2001, The Attack of Wren: Wrenaissance Volume 1 in 2004, and A Very Barrett Christmas in 2011. He has most recently released Energy In Motion: The Music Of The Bee Gees (2014) and Live And Direct 2014.[8] Barrett has performed or recorded with Elvin Jones, Jackie McLean, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove Big Band, Common, Will.i.am, Talib Kweli, Esperanza Spalding and Antonio Hart, among others.[8]

Barrett is currently a Professor in the Ensemble department at his alma mater, Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. "I'm working on my craft, trying to be as professional and proficient as I can be. I'm just trying to reach people with my music, trying to concentrate on myself as a performer, bandleader and composer. I have many different bands but they all give me the musical platform to pursue anything possible. I want to continue exploring music and the trumpet by being open to the gamut of creativity, incorporating electronics into live shows, and realizing that one must have a great product and a great live show. These are my key principles."

Education
dB in Action
  • BA in Professional Music from Berklee College of Music, 1990
  • MA in Jazz Performance from Queens College, 1993
  • MS in Music Education from Queens College, 1995
  • Diploma in Jazz Performance from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, 1997

Teachers
  • Donald Byrd
  • William Vacchiano
  • William Fielder
  • Bill Adam
  • Charles Schlueter
  • Don Johnson

Awards
  • Lennie Johnson Scholarship 1987
  • Lennie Johnson Scholarship 1988
  • Lennie Johnson Scholarship 1989
  • Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition 1997 – 1st place

Discography

As leader
dB in Action
  • First One Up (J Curve Records, 1999)[9]
  • Deelings (J Curve Records, 2001)[10][11]
  • The Attack of Wren: Wrenaissance, Volume 1 (Nagel Heyer Records, 2004)[12]
  • Darren Barrett A Very Barrett Christmas (dB Studios, 2011)
  • Darren Barrett & Energy In Motion The Music Of The Bee Gees (dB Studios, 2014)[13]
  • Darren Barrett & dB Quintet, Live And Direct 2014 (dB Studios, 2014)
  • Darren Barrett & Trumpet Vibes, Trumpet Vibes (dB Studios, 2015)
  • Darren Barrett & Trumpet Vibes, The Music Of Amy Winehouse (dB Studios, 2016)
  • Darren Barrett & dB-ish, The Opener (dB Studios, 2017)
  • Darren Barrett & Time For Romance, But Beautiful (dB Studios, 2018)
  • Darren Barrett & The EVI Sessions, Mr. Steiner (dB Studios, 2019)

As sideman

With Elvin Jones

References
  1. Darren Barrett at All About Jazz. Accessed October 4, 2010.
  2. Steve Graybow, "The Billboard spotlight: Jazz: Indie Labels at Work" Billboard, June 10, 2000, Vol. 112, No. 24, pp. 63, 68. ISSN 0006-2510. Accessed October 4, 2010.
  3. Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition at Berklee website. Accessed October 4, 2010.
  4. Scott Yanow, The Trumpet Kings: the players who shaped the sound of jazz trumpet (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2001), pp. 40-41. ISBN 978-0-87930-640-3. Accessed October 4, 2010.
  5. For examples of Barrett's work at Berklee, see Ensembles Week: Jazz, Avant-Garde and Ensemble Showcase: Middle Eastern, Jazz at Berklee website. Accessed October 4, 2010.
  6. John Murph, "Darren Barrett", Jazz Times, October 2001.
  7. "Darren Barrett" Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, 2013 Aaron Gottlieb Agency, 2013.
  8. "Coming June 17: Trumpeter Darren Barrett Releases Two Albums", Fully Altered Media.
  9. "Darren Barrett – First One Up" at All Music.
  10. "Darren Barrett - Deelings CD". CD Universe.
  11. Alex Henderson, "Darren Barrett – Deelings", All Music.
  12. Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., "Darren Barrett – Attack of Wren: Wrenaissance, Vol. 1", AllMusic.
  13. Mark F. Turner, "Darren Barrett Energy In Motion: The Music Of The Bee Gees (dB Studios, 2014)", All About Jazz, August 1, 2014.
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