Jay Saunders
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Jay Saunders is a trumpeter and educator. He is currently on the Jazz Studies faculty at the University of North Texas College of Music, where he teaches jazz trumpet, jazz recordings, and directs the Three O'Clock Lab Band.
Originally from Sacramento, California, Saunders attended the University of North Texas (then NTSU) where he studied trumpet with John Haynie and was a member of the world renowned One O'Clock Lab Band. He was later a trumpet teaching assistant while getting his master's degree in trumpet performance. He has played lead trumpet and toured with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and the Studio Band of the U.S. Army Field Band in Washington, D.C. Saunders played off and on with the Kenton band for many years and taught at Kenton clinics. He recorded eleven albums with Kenton and one album each with Ornette Coleman and Doc Severinsen as well as many religious, Latino and rock artists.
As a member of the Jerry Grey Orchestra at the Fairmont Hotel's Venetian Room, Saunders backed such noted artists as Sarah Vaughn, Billy Eckstine, Tony Bennett, and Ella Fitzgerald as well as hundreds of other well-established performers. He has been an educator/performer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since the 1980's, performing with the Fort Worth and Dallas Symphony Orchestras as part of their Pops Series, playing first trumpet for the Dallas Summer Musicals, as well as a variety of recordings and shows in the area.
Saunders has been heard playing lead trumpet on broadcasts for the BBC, VOA, WABC, KABC, WNBC, WCBS, and for the CNN/SI, CNN, HBO, ESPN radio, Warner Bros. and Paramount TV themes, in addition to many other broadcasters in the United States. As an educator, Saunders has taught at Richland College, Tarrant County Community College, Texas Wesleyan University, Collin County Community College, and the University of North Texas.
He also plays with Pete Petersen and The Collection Jazz Orchestra. "He has a reputation as being one of the best," said Petersen of Saunders. Petersen told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he had needed a trumpet player for the recording of Playing in the Park in the mid-'80s. Saunders continues to play with them. [1] The band went on to record two other albums. [2]
[edit] Select Discography
with Stan Kenton or Stan Kenton & His Orchestra
Live at Brigham Young University(1972), 1972
Live at Butler University(1972), 1972
Stan Kenton Today, 1972
National Anthems of the World, 1972
7.5 on the Richter Scale, 1973
Street of Dreams, 1991
Live at Newport Jazz Festival, 1999
with Pete Petersen & The Collection Jazz Orchestra
Playin' in the Park, 1989
Straight Ahead, 1990
Night & Day, 1996
with Doc Severinsen
Night Journey, 1976
