Corey A. Wallace

Trombonist Corey A. Wallace has gained the respect and admiration of many and has created a 20+ year career in music because of his love of music, culture, tradition, as well as his desire to keep growing and pursuing more!

Wallace has been an integral member of highly-regarded and widely recognized music groups, tours, and shows. His musicality, leadership, and experience on and beyond the New York music scene are regularly called upon to build and accentuate moments.

In September 2026, Wallace performed with the Matt Jones Orchestra in collaboration with fashion industry giant Tommy Hilfiger for his fashion show during New York Fashion Week!

In February 2026, Wallace performed Wynton Marsalis’ Symphony No. 3 with the Kris Johnson’s Paradise Theatre Big Band and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Michigan.

Wallace has also played more than 400 performances at the Walter Kerr Theatre in the Tony Award wining show Hadestown! As a featured soloist ensemble member, and percussionist (glockenspiel), he contributes onstage in major way - it is truly unlike any other show! He has also appeared in other Broadway shows including A Beautiful Noise, Back to the Future, as well as Tony Award winning shows - MJ the Musical and Water for Elephants!

Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra (of which he’s a part) has been recognized in the prestigious jazz publication Downbeat Magazine, in their Critic’s Poll, as one of the top five big band/ensembles (2024 - 2026)! He was also selected in Downbeat’s 2024 Critic’s Poll for Rising Star Trombonist - a category which gives wider (international) recognition for contributions in music and dedication to their craft/instrument!

Similarly, in 2019 and 2012, he was selected as Best Trombonist in the Hot House Magazine/Jazzmobile NYC Reader’s Poll and Best Trombonist by the Washington [D.C.] City Paper - not just for his fiery playing, but for being a staple and anchor on the NYC and DC jazz scenes, connecting generations of musicians!

For more than a decade, Wallace has made a place for himself as a vital part of the NYC scene as a leader, collaborator, performer, curator, music director, and freelancer. He has performed in big bands/horn sections/orchestras/ensembles for concerts, festivals, recordings, and tv appearances with luminaries such as Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Benny Golson, Robert Glasper, Keyon Harold, DeeDee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Nicholas Payton, Jazzmeia Horn, Mark Whitfield,  John Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Esperanza Spaulding, Stefan Harris, Kamasi Washington, Theo Croker, Terrace Martin, Ravi Coltrane, Antonio Hart, Conrad Herwig, Kuumba Frank Lacy, Valery Ponomarev, Billy Harper, Rufus Reid, Andy Bey, Joe Chambers, Lee Konitz, and more…Currently, he can be seen performing and touring regularly with Grammy award winning trumpeter Steven Bernstein & the Milennial Territory Orchestra, as well as powerhouse vocalist Andromeda Turre, and the electrifying Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band and Revive Orchestra!

In February 2024, Wallace was a featured artist and clinician for Penn State University’s African American Music Festival, curated by professor emeritus, Dr. Anthony Leach. There, he performed his arrangements with various groups, gave masterclasses, and sat on a panel discussion geared towards careers in music/music education and creating space for oneself as a minority in the field.

He has also performed with R&B, gospel, hip hop, and genre bending artists like Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Kelly Clarkson, Rick Ross, Swizz Beatz, Just Blaze, Rosalía, Lillias White, Stephanie Mills, Kim Burrell, Bilal, Talib Kweli, Alice Smith, Keke Wyatt, Black Thought and Questlove from The Roots, Damien Sneed, Darrin Atwater, Earl St. Clair, Bonnie Prince Billy, Queen Esther, and YG Marley (recording) to name a few.

In November 2022, Wallace’s work on Kelly Clarkson When Christmas Comes Around… (2021) helped earn the album a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Album. It rose to 22 on the Billboard Top 200, Number 1 on the Billboard US Top Holiday Albums!

In August 2022, legendary DJ and hip hop artist D-Nice along with bandleader/trumpeter Igmar Thomas created the Revive Orchestra to bring to life D-Nice’s 2020 pandemic project :”Club Quarantine”. Wallace joined as principal/lead trombonist for a legendary night at Carnegie Hall featuring R&B and Hip Hop luminaries CL Smooth, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Queen Latifah, Hezekiah Walker, DJ Clark Kent, Ashanti, Jadakiss and Styles P from The LOX.

Wallace would return to Carnegie Hall four more times over the next year and a half (with additional stops in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center), performing with hip hop legends Busta Rhymes and Rakim, with hip hop titan Rick Ross, and for a follow-up Club Quarantine concert with D-Nice and Thomas (principal/lead trombonist and bass trombonist); the latter showcases icons and legends Bun B, Salt-N-Pepa, Scarface, Baby Cham, 702, Llyod, Israel Houghton, and saxophonist Mike Phillips, along with a phenomenally casted orchestra! D-Nice’s Club Quaratine Show also celebrated the 150th Preakness race in Baltimore, MD in 2025, sharing the stage with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, featuring Ari Lennox, Jadakiss, Deborah Cox, Chante Moore, Too $hort, Lil’ Mo, Raheem DeVaughn, 803Fresh, and DJ Quicksilva!

Wallace also contributed to the film score of Judas and the Black Messiah film score, which was recognized in a major way - with a 2022 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation!

He has performed at regional, national, and international festivals such as Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Saratoga Jazz Festival, NYC Summerstage, NYC Winter Jazz Fest, the Tribeca Film Festival, Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston SC, the DC Jazz Fest, Pittsburgh Jazz Festival, the Da Camera Jazz Series in Houston, TX, Summer Nostos Festival in Athens, Greece, and more.

He also has appeared on FXs Pose, VH1s Black Ink Crew, NBCs The Jimmy Fallon Show, and the PBS special Josh Groban’s Great Big Radio City Show (2022)

 Feb 2021-Aug 2022 he joined the Syracuse University Setnor School of Music faculty, as the jazz and applied trombone instructor teaching improvisation and techniques used within the idiom and as a freelancer, as well as applied trombone studies. As a teaching artist, he has taught at the Sanaa Music Workshop (based in New Orleans), the Jazz Arts Collective Summer Jazz Workshop (Fordham University), and was a faculty member and artist-in-residence in a variety of programs at Jazz at Lincoln Center (2017-2020).

He’s also been a vital part of the jazz education programs at the Baltimore School for the Arts, the Harlem School for the Arts, and taught general music in the New York Public School System. He has a growing number of private students dedicated to studying the trombone, the music, and learning from his wide array of life and music experiences.

In Feb 2022 he became the director of music at KIPP:STAR College Prep Charter School , a middle school in Harlem, Manhattan, NY. Here he is building a music program and pouring into his community to positively impact the youth and their families!

He is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He leads the Corey Wallace DUBtet - a group dedicated to creativity and integrity in Black American Music and beyond .

He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance, where he studied with Mark L. Lusk and Dan Yoder and performed in ensembles under wind ensemble director Dennis Glocke and conductor Geraldo Edelstein. He also earned a master’s degree from Towson University in Jazz/Commercial Music, where he studied with artist/jazz educator/former lead trombonist of the US Army Jazz Ambassadors Jim McFalls.