Born in Baltimore, United States, Douglas Purviance began his professional career as a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, playing bass trombone and tuba from 1975 to 1977. He largely works as a studio session bass trombonist, and is not known for improvising. He graduated from Towson State University in 1975 and obtained a masters degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 1992. He settled in New York City in 1977, playing a variety of commercial and jazz trombone jobs, and eventually claiming a chair in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He was also a charter member of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and has toured extensively with Slide Hampton, Steve Turre, Dizzy Gillespie,[1] and the Mingus Big Band, among others. He appears as an incidental player on hundreds of recordings, notably on Grammy-nominated efforts with Joe Henderson, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra,[2] but also in many other groups. On Feb. 8, 2009, he co-won a Grammy as a producer of the CD and also a player in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category for Monday Night Live At The Village Vanguard.