Bio
Paul Brandenburg is a freelance trumpet player living in New York City. With roots in classical music, he has branched out to become an accomplished performer in the musical fields of R&B, soul, jazz, rock and swing.
Paul has recently been heard with the Hot Sardines, a “hot” jazz group specializing in the music of the early 20th century. Recent appearances with them have included every Monday in June, 2017 at the Blue Note in New York, as well as Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Detroit Symphony Hall (with the DSO), and Kodak Hall in Rochester, NY (with the Rochester Philharmonic). New Year’s 2020 was spent on stage with the Hot Sardines and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA.
Another recent project has been the six piece combo Double Down. Since early 2016, Paul has been contributing to their unique “mash-up” approach to swing classics, metal hits, and 90s grunge songs, just to mention a few of the stylistic turns this ensemble takes.
For approximately five years, Paul worked with alternative rock band The Walkmen, playing trumpet and organizing horn sections for tours and recordings. He can be heard on two of their album releases, “You & Me”, and “Lisbon”.
Paul’s work in the R&B and soul genres has continued with his appearance with Barbara Lynn at Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors festival in the summer of 2016. Earlier that year, he was in the house band for “The Cooper Clan: All Together”, a performance within the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. This is in addition to his association with The Impressions, with whom he recorded in 2012 on the Daptone label, and performed with at the 75th birthday tribute to Curtis Mayfield at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.
Other notable performances include Jewel’s holiday album, “Let It Snow”; appearances with Anita Ward, Cheryl Lynn, Thelma Houston, and Evelyn “Champagne” King; rock band The Whigs; swing and lounge group Dave’s True Story; New Orleans-style second line group the Outerboro Brass Band; Dig Deeper, the classic soul series based in Brooklyn, NY; the Levitt Legacy Kleztet; and prog-funk band Afroskull. For five years, he was a member of Dem Brooklyn Bums, a band that toured extensively throughout North America and Europe and released three CDs.
In addition, Paul’s enjoys stretching out his vocal chops with King of the World, a Steely Dan tribute band. He plays in the horn section while also singing and harmonizing the hits of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen in various venues in the NYC region.
Paul has put together musical groups of many different sizes for parties and functions large and small throughout the New York City region. He has years of experience performing in bands that cater to private events, and is well versed in the repertoire of the ‘club date’.
He is a graduate of the Juilliard School Pre-College program and has attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies at the Manhattan School of Music.
Paul is on faculty at the Trinity School in New York City as well as the Abrons Arts Center in downtown Manhattan. He is a teaching artist with the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, and is available for private trumpet instruction upon request.