Mike Vax is a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trumpeter

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, bandleader, composer, and clinician. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he performs exclusively on Getzen trumpets, cornets, and flugelhorns and has the status of an International Artist for the Getzen Company

Getzen

The Getzen Company is a family owned manufacturer and wholesaler of brass instruments. The present product portfolio consists of Trumpets, Cornets, Flugelhorns, Trombones and a Baritone Horn. Four Generations of the Getzen family have participated in the company.-Founding:In 1939, Anthony James ...

. He has played lead and solo trumpet with the Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

 Orchestra, the Clark Terry

Clark Terry

Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...

 Big Bad Band, and the U.S. Navy Show Band. His composition, "Naked Gun," was chosen as the theme song to the Naked Gun films. As a recording musician, he has performed on more than 75 albums, including twenty under his own name.

Jazz

Mr. Vax has performed and/or recorded with trumpeters Freddy Hubbard, Don Ellis

Don Ellis

Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...

, and Don Jacoby

Don Jacoby

- External links :**...

, vocalists Joe Williams

Joe Williams

Joe Williams may refer to:* Cyclone Joe Williams , Negro Leagues baseball pitcher, a.k.a. "Smokey Joe" Williams* Joe Williams , achieved prominence in the late 1950s* Big Joe Williams , delta blues singer...

, Anita O'Day

Anita O'Day

Anita O'Day was an American jazz singer.Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer"...

, Barbara McNair

Barbara McNair

Barbara McNair was an African American singer and actress.Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago...

, and The Four Freshmen

The Four Freshmen

The Four Freshmen is a multiple Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires , The Pied Pipers , and The Mel-Tones , founded in the barbershop tradition...

, and other instrumentalists including Art Pepper

Art Pepper

Art Pepper , born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist.About Pepper, Scott Yanow of All Music stated, "In the 1950s he was one of the few altoists that was able to develop his own sound despite the dominant influence of Charlie Parker" and: "When Art Pepper...

, Al Grey

Al Grey

Al Grey was a jazz trombonist who is most remembered for his association with the Count Basie orchestra....

, Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...

, John Handy

John Handy

John Richard Handy III is an American jazz alto saxophonist.-Biography:In the 1960s, Handy led several groups...

, and Louie Bellson

Louie Bellson

Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni , better known by the stage name Louie Bellson , was an Italian-American jazz drummer...

. He has performed and/or recorded with jazz orchestras, armed service orchestras, and Dixieland

Dixieland

Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...

 bands including The Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...

 and Jimmy Dorsey

Jimmy Dorsey

James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD"...

 Orchestras, The Navy Commodores, The Army Blues, The Army Jazz Ambassadors, The Air Force Falconaires, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, and The Dukes of Dixieland in New Orleans.

Symphonic

He has appeared as guest lead trumpet and soloist with symphony pops orchestras throughout the United States, as well as the All-American Collegiate Orchestra at Disney World. He has toured extensively in Europe, Scandinavia, South America and Japan.

Jazz education

He has presented workshops and concerts to music students in over 2000 elementary and junior high schools, high schools, colleges and universities internationally since 1975. He is active as a clinician and soloist in both the classical and jazz idioms.

Current activities

Currently (2011) he leads his own groups: The Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra, The Mike Vax Big Band (featuring alumni of the Stan Kenton Orchestra), TRPTS (Trumpets), The Great American Jazz Band, the Mike Vax Quintette and the Mike Vax Sextette.

External links

• http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,6373,CNTID%253D1417%2526CTID%253D241700,00.html Mike Vax Signature Trumpet (Yamaha)]
• Mike Vax Signature Trumpet (Getzen)
• Official Website