Byron Wallen (born July 1969) is a British jazz trumpeter, composer and educator. He was described by ''

Jazzwise ''Jazzwise'' is a British monthly magazine focused on jazz, launched in 1997. The magazine covers a range of jazz sub-genres and provides news coverage, a national gig guide, a jazz-on-film page, feature articles, and a review section that evalua ...

'' as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive". As characterised by ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'', "He does not fit into any pigeonhole, however, and is also something of a renaissance man: he has long been involved in

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...

and also travels widely, spending extended periods in South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Morocco, Indonesia and Belize (his parents' homeland)."

Biography

Wallen was born in London, England, to parents from

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

, and was brought up in a musical family – one of his three siblings is composer Errollyn Wallen. After beginning to learn classical piano as a young child, also playing

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

, he went on to study the trumpet in New York in the mid- to late 1980s with Jimmy Owens,

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few h ...

and

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

. Wallen graduated from

Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...

with a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Maths, while developing his music career, recording with Loose Ends and

Cleveland Watkiss Cleveland Watkiss, (born 21 October 1959), is a British vocalist, actor, composer and educator. Biography Cleveland Watkiss was born in Hackney, East London, to Jamaican parents, and was one of nine children. He is the older brother of pianis ...

, and playing trumpet with

The Style Council The Style Council were an English pop band formed in Woking in 1982 by Paul Weller, the former lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist with the rock band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Ru ...

Charles Earland Charles Earland (May 24, 1941 – December 11, 1999) was an American jazz organist. Biography Earland was born in Philadelphia and learned to play the saxophone in high school. He played tenor with Jimmy McGriff at the age of 17 and in 1960 fo ...

Courtney Pine Courtney Pine, (born 18 March 1964) is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also ...

and

Jean Toussaint Jean Toussaint (born July 27, 1960) is an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. Life and career Toussaint was born in Aruba, Dutch Antilles, and was raised in Saint Thomas and New York City. He learned to play calypso as a child and atte ...

, among others. He is also among the alumni of jazz music education and artist development organisation Tomorrow's Warriors. Other artists with whom he would later perform include David Murray, Andrew Hill,

Butch Morris Lawrence Douglas "Butch" Morris (February 10, 1947 – January 29, 2013) was an American cornetist, composer and conductor. He was known for pioneering his structural improvisation method, ''Conduction'', which he utilized on many recordings. ...

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and f ...

Manu Dibango Emmanuel N'Djoké "Manu" Dibango (12 December 1933 – 24 March 2020) was a Cameroonian musician and songwriter who played saxophone and vibraphone. He developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music. His father w ...

, Eddie Henderson,

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

Toumani Diabaté Toumani Diabaté ( ; 10 August 1965 – 19 July 2024) was a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he was involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styl ...

Ronnie Laws Ronald Wayne Laws (born October 3, 1950) is an American jazz and smooth jazz saxophonist, and singer. He is the younger brother of jazz flutist Hubert Laws, jazz vocalist Eloise Laws and the older brother of Debra Laws. Biography Born and rai ...

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan ( ), is an American singer. Known as the " Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of ...

and

Grand Union Orchestra Grand Union Orchestra, also known as The Grand Union, is a multicultural World music, world jazz ensemble based in London. It has been performing, touring and recording large-scale shows for over 30 years and is well known for its educational work ...

. Forming his own band Sound Advice in 1992, Wallen released his debut album in 1995, which has been followed by five further albums. As a composer Wallen has had commissions from such organisations as London's

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, Jerwood Foundation,

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

, National Theatre,

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and

Sage Gateshead The Glasshouse is an international centre for musical education and concerts on the Gateshead bank of Quayside in northern England. Opened in 2004 as Sage Gateshead and occupied by North Music Trust, the venue's original name honours a patron ...

. In 2018, Wallen joined the staff of

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

Awards and recognition

In 2003, Wallen received a BBC Jazz Award in the Jazz Innovation category. His 2007 album, ''Meeting Ground'', was nominated for Best Band and Best Album in the 2007

BBC Jazz Awards The BBC Jazz Awards were set up in 2001 and had the status of one of the premier jazz awards in the United Kingdom (among those presenting the awards were Denis Lawson, Sue Mingus, Humphrey Lyttelton, Ian Carr, Clive James, Michael Gibbs (compose ...

and Best Jazz Act in the 2007

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

. In 2017, Wallen received a Paul Hamlyn Award.

Discography

* 1995: ''Sound Advice'' * 1997: ''Bambaraka - Automatic Original'' * 1997: ''Earth Roots'' * 2002: ''Indigo'' * 2007: ''Meeting Ground'' * 2020: ''Portrait: Reflections On Belonging''

References

External links

Official website
* Le Gendre, Kevin
"A Meeting Of Minds"
''Echoes'', 2007. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallen, Byron Living people 1969 births English people of Belizean descent Black British musicians English jazz trumpeters British male jazz musicians 21st-century English composers 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century jazz composers FMR Records artists Tomorrow's Warriors alumni