ABOUT RUSS MACKLEM
Russ Macklem is a Windsor/Detroit based trumpet player, composer, educator, and recording artist. His 2023 debut release, The South Detroit Connection, was nominated for a JUNO-award, and was the first live album recorded in Windsor in over 22 years (at Phog Lounge), the last having been recorded by Detroit trumpet legend, Marcus Belgrave at the Capitol Theatre. Belgrave’s son, saxophonist/flautist Kasan Belgrave is featured both on the album, and in Russ’ new Quintet. The new Russ Macklem Detroit Quintet makes their debut at the 2024 Detroit Jazz Festival.
As a leader, Russ can be heard with his quintet every first Friday of the month at MotorCity Wine in Corktown (Detroit), and other venues around the Midwest throughout the year. As a sideman, Russ has played with a diverse array of artists including Amp Fiddler, Dave Holland, The Marley Bros (Bob Marley’s sons), Cecil McBee, Frankie Valli, Dave Liebman, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, and many others.
Russ earned his Doctor of Musical Arts while studying at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was on full-tuition scholarship and Teaching Assistant to Grammy-Award-winning trumpet player Brian Lynch. At New England Conservatory in Boston, Russ earned his Master’s of Music with Honors while studying with Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Cecil McBee, Bob Moses, and John McNeil. Russ earned his Bachelor of Music from McGill University where he studied with Kevin Dean, Jocelyn Couture, Joe Sullivan, and Remi Bolduc.
As an educator, Russ teaches brass techniques, music theory, music history, improvisation, and has taught at the University of Windsor. He specializes in helping brass players who have developed physical problems with playing their instrument, and players who want to greatly increase their range, power, endurance, and control. Not being a natural brass player himself, he sought out the best teaches around North America to become the virtuoso he is today including: Jim Manley (St. Louis trumpet savant), Steve Reid (Prince, Maynard Ferguson), Chris LaBarbera, and Laurie Frink. Students and professionals alike from around North America seek his vast knowledge of playing mechanics, his unique gift in identifying playing issues and solving those issues with practical solutions.
Russ holds a B. Mus. in Jazz Studies from McGill University, a M.M. in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory, and a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Jazz and Studio Music from the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was a Henry Mancini Institute Fellow on full scholarship, and TA for Grammy-Award-winning trumpeter Brian Lynch. He was the 2009 recipient of a $20,000 Canada Council for the Arts Grant for Studies at the New England Conservatory. Some of his teachers have included: Brian Lynch, Roger Ingram, Jim Manley, Chris LaBarbera, George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Cecil McBee, John McNeil, Laurie Frink, and Joe Sullivan. One of his most important mentors, the great trumpeter Steve Reid, helped Russ gain his most important resources at a trumpet player.
In Windsor, Russ co-leads a collective bringing together musicians from Windsor and Detroit called UNITED. The aim of this collective is to re-unite musicians of two cites a mile apart, split apart by the pandemic border closure for almost two years. This collective has featured musicians such as Dwight Adams (trumpeter with Stevie Wonder), Louis Jones III (drums for Eric Lewis, Vincent Chandler), and Michael Palazzolo (bassist with Bob James). This May 2022, Russ was awarded the Elizabeth Havelock Grant from the Windsor Arts Council in order to expand UNITED’s reach in both the Windsor and Detroit communities. In Detroit and Windsor, Russ is an in-demand freelancer in multiple genres.
Russ plays a 1942 Martin Handcraft Committee trumpet and a pre-war F. Besson flugelhorn once owned by Claudio Roditi, customized Lynn Nicholson mouthpieces, a Ferguson-Bell TM, a Giardinelli mouthpiece made for Maynard Ferguson in 1960, and custom mouthpieces handmade by Greg Black.
For more info please visit:
russmacklem.com
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