Professional Summary

As a freelance trombonist, I have been hired for national/international performances and tours (music, musical theatre, tv/film) and recordings for my musicianship, soloing/improvising ability, big band/small group experience, orchestral experience, horn section work, sight reading, leadership, remote recording, and my strong grasp and knowledge of various styles of music.  I’ve performed with different artists, groups, and acts 15+ years, spanning multiple genres including Jazz, Gospel, Classical, Pop, R&B/Soul, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, Folk, and more. As an artist and educator, I am committed to the integrity of the music people refer to as Jazz - to Black American Music and the cultures from which the many sub and neighboring genres arose.  It is of the utmost importance to "get it right" and to be a conduit in this lineage of music, but to also represent and contribute what is "right now" so that the music and culture isn’t a caricature of itself.  Upholding the tradition, and continuing to move forward with integrity.  It is with the profound care and integrity that I approach any and every culture’s music. As artists, we use the colors of culture to paint the canvas of tomorrow; not to force them to run together, but to show the truth, beauty, and story of each hue.

EXPERIENCE

Freelance Trombonist — 2006 — Present

  • Performed in big bands/horn sections/groups for concerts, festivals, and tv appearances He has performed in big bands/horn sections/orchestras/ensembles for concerts, festivals, recordings, and tv appearances with with luminaries such as Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Benny Golson, Robert Glasper, Steven Bernstein, 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.

As well as pop, R&B, gospel, hip hop, and genre bending artists like Busta Rhymes, DNice, Ashanti, Jadakiss, MC Lyte, Salt N Pepa, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Kelly Clarkson, Rick Ross, Swizz Beatz, Just Blaze, Rosalía, Lillias White, Kim Burrell, Bilal, Talib Kweli, Alice Smith, Shanice, Traci Spencer, Muni Long, Keke Wyatt, Black Thought and Questlove from The Roots, Louis Cato, Damien Sneed, Darrin Atwater, Earl St. Clair,  Bonnie Prince Billy, Queen Esther, and more.

  • The Corey Wallace DUBtet — bandleader/trombonist/composer/arranger; performing ongoing residency at Smalls Jazz Club (NYC) (160+ shows as bandleader - bi-weekly 2015 - 2023, and monthly 2023 - present), as well as Smoke Jazz Club, Minton’s Playhouse, Fat Cat, Clement’s Place,, Zinc Bar, Silvana, The Shrine World Music Venue, Penn State University, the African American Day Parade in Harlem, Rosslyn Jazz Festival, An Die Musik (Baltimore)

  • Festivals: NYC Summerstage, Winter Jazz Fest, Jazz Age Lawn Party, as well as 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

  • Broadway - Hadestown, A Beautiful Noise, Back to the Future, MJ the Musical, Water for Elephants - ongoing substitute on premier Broadway shows

  • Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band (2015 - present) - lead trombonist/featured soloist; performances, Ginny’s Supper Club residency, Highline Ballroom, SummerStage festival performances, Exit Zero Festival, BRIC Jazz Festival, etc.

  • Andromeda Turre (August 2024) - “From the Earth” Album Release shows, South Jazz Kitchen (Philadelphia, PA), Ossie Davis Theater (New Rochelle, NY)

  • Steven Bernstein MTO (Millennial Territory Orchestra) - (March 2025) Carnegie Hall, (June/July 2024) Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, Saratoga Jazz Festival, (April 2024) Birdland Theatre residency, (Oct 2023) Jazz at Lincoln Center/Dizzy’s Club residency

  • YG Marley (2024) - recording for singles “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” and “Survival”

  • Paradise Theatre Big Band (April 2022, featuring Terence Blanchard, Kurt Elling, and Lulu Fall and Nov 2023 featuring the music of Kris Johnson) - Detroit Symphony Hall/Orchestra Hall performance; lead trombonist/soloist

  • DNice’s Club Quarantine Live at Carnegie Hall (August 2022 and July 2023) and Live at the Kennedy Center (October 2023) - DJ /producer/rapper DNice and Igmar Thomas with the Revive Orchestra provided the framework for Hip Hop/R&B/Gospel/Dancehall artists to perform with DJ and Orchestra at world famous venues

  • Gordon Parks Foundation Gala (May 2022)- Orchestra performance featuring Black Thought/Tariq Trotter of The Roots, featuring the music of Curtis Mayfield

  • Josh Groban’s Great Big Radio City Show (April 2022) - Radio City Music Hall performances (five nights) 

  • Kelly Clarkson “When Christmas Comes Around…” (2021) - Grammy Nominated

  • KIPP AMP Legacy Jazz Ensemble Juneteenth Performance (2022) - featured artist, arranger

  • Judas & the Black Messiah (2022) — international feature film/score, trombone; nominated for an NAACP Image Award for outstanding soundtrack/compilation album

  • NYC Winter Jazz Fest (January 2020) - Revive Big Band featuring Nicholas Payton, DeeDee Bridgewater, Esperanza Spalding, Terrace Martin, and Alice Smith

  • The Jimmy Fallon Show (2019) - hip hop superstar Rick Ross, producers Swizz Beatz and Just Blaze, and drummer of The Roots Questlove

  • Grace & Mercy (2019) — Ron K. Brown/ Evidence Dance Company, Peven Everett, Meshell N’Degeocello, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY

  • FX’s Pose (2019) - performance of “The Man That Got Away” with Billy Porter Jr.

  • Nickel & Dime Ops — Summer Nostos Festival, Athens, Greece (2018); Smoke Jazz Club residency (weekly performances 2014 - 2019); 2018 album 

  • Bonnie Prince Billy (2018) - Northeast U.S. tour

  • The Valery Ponomarev Sextet (2018) — Ashdod Jazz Festival, Ashdod, Israel

  • Ashley Bouder Project/New York Jazzarmonic Orchestra (2018) — Joyce Theater, New York City, NY

  • Tromboniverse (2017 - present) - Music director/arranger/copyist of NYC’s leading trombone group featuring eight trombones and rhythm section, under the direction of trombonist/multi-instrumentalist/composer/bandleader Kuumba Frank Lacy

    • Residency at Smalls Jazz Club (2017-2020)

    • Featured performances at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz @ Lincoln Center, William Paterson University, New Brunswick Jazz Project VH1’s Black Ink Crew

  • Valery Ponomarev Big Band (2012 - 2016) - Zinc Bar monthly residency; 2016 album with tenor saxophonist and composer Benny Golson; featured performance with tenor saxophonist and composer Billy Harper

  • Ms. Lauryn Hill (2015) - performed “Rebel/I Find It Hard to Say” on the The Charlie Rose Show

  • The Impressions (2014 —2018) - regional tours performing classics and the Curtis Mayfield songbook

  • Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2012) — International Tour, Israel leg of tour (Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem)

  • The Music Man National Tour (2011)  — Windwood Theatricals, Paris, VA

  • Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra (2010 — 2013)

    • Lead trombonist in weekly resident big band at the historical Washington DC music venue

  • Hershey Park (Summers 2007 – 2010) - show captain for R&B/funk band 

    • won 2009 IAAPA Award for Best Overall Production

Educator - 2006 — present

  • KIPP:NYC Charter School (February 2022 - present) - Director of Music and music teacher

    • KIPP:STAR Middle School (2022-2023 school year to present) general music, music theory, reading music, history and analysis of Black American Music and Latin American Music, piano lab, guitar lab, rhythm/percussion 

    • KIPP:AMP Middle School (2021-2022 school year) Teaching elements of music, history, and theory within a jazz based curriculum; from beginner to advanced levels of instrumental jazz music; assistant band director, arranger/copyist for music program

  • African American Music Festival at Penn State University (2024) - featured artist, lecturer; featured performances of original music and arrangements with the Penn State Jazz Combo and a tribute to legendary trombonist, composer, and arranger Slide Hampton with Slide Dimensions, Penn State’s jazz trombone group with rhythm section

  • Syracuse University (Spring 2021 - Fall 2022) - Setnor School of Music Faculty, Jazz and Applied trombone instructor; trombone methods for music education majors

  • Sanaa Music Workshop (June 2021;June 2022) - Faculty/trombone; arranger

  • Jazz Arts Collective Summer Jazz Workshop (June/July 2021) - Faculty/trombone, jazz language/improvisation

  • Jazz at Lincoln Center High School/Middle School Jazz Academy (2018 - 2020) - High School Jazz Academy (2018 - 2020) - History lecturer, improvisation theory teacher, combo coach, big band director

  • Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz for Young People Outreach (2017 – 2019) – artist and lecturer; traveled to different schools in NYC/Brooklyn/Queens performing and teaching jazz to K-12 students in a school assembly format 

  • NYC All City Big Band (2019) - featured artist/clinician, masterclass lecturer

  • Essentially Ellington/Northeast regional (2019) - clinician and adjudicator: brass and improvisation masterclasses

  • KIPP AMP Middle School Jazz Enrichment Camp (2018 — 2019) - brass instructor/improvisation, big band director

  • South Bronx Early College Academy (2017 – 2018) – teaching artist; taught and aided in the following classes: general music, music production, drum line, band, brass instruction

  • The Harlem School for the Arts Outreach (2014 – 2015; 2017) - 2nd and 3rd grade general music; taught the basics of written music, styles of popular styles of music, and recorder

    • Substitute brass teacher for middle school programs

  • African American Music Festival at Penn State University (2015) - featured artist, lecturer, performance with The Corey Wallace DUBtet of original music and jazz standards

  • Neshaminy High School Jazz Festival (2014) - featured artist, clinician, adjudicator

  • The Baltimore School of the Arts (2008 – 2012) - directed the jazz band, coached jazz combos, taught jazz improvisation class, lectured on the history of jazz music

  • Penn State Summer Music Camp (2012) – big band director to students from various high schools from across Pennsylvania, private trombone instructor

Awards

  • Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll (2024) -  acknowledgement that gives wider (international) recognition to musicians for their contributions in music and their dedication to their craft/instrument.

    • Rising Star Trombonist

    • Best Big Band/Large Ensemble - Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra (MTO) 

  • Grammy Nomination (2022) - Kelly Clarkson’s When Christmas Comes Around…trombonist/contributing artist

  • NAACP Image Award Nominee (2022) - Judas and the Black Messiah film score, nominated for Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation, under the direction of Craig Harris and Mark Isham; principal trombonist

  • Hot House Magazine & Jazzmobile’s Reader’s Poll (2019) - Voted Best Trombonist by New York’s premier jazz magazine by readers and fans

  • City Paper Poll (2012) - Voted Best Trombonist by readers and critics in DC, Maryland, and Virginia

Music Curation

  • Curation and Management at Hermana NYC (March 2021 - present) - jazz venue/bar/restuarant; booked musicians/bands, scheduled promotional events for liquor/beer companies and brands,  sound technician, and DJ, performing sets of music, mixing Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, house, pop music, funk, soul, etc.

  • Rutgers University (February 2020) - Curated a concert series for Institute of Jazz Studies at Clement’s Place — featured artist with The Corey Wallace DUBtet, as well as organizer and host for series

Recordings

Brent Birckhead Cacao (2024)

Sinkane We Belong (2024) 

Willerm Delisfort Black Element(S) (2023)

Christopher McBride Ramon (2023) 

Kelly Clarkson When Christmas Comes Around… (2022)

Curtis Nowosad CNRMXD (2022)

Luke Carlos O’Reilly I Too Sing America: A Black Mans Diary (2021) 

Shirazette Tinin Sonic Wallpaper, Vol. 1: The Cards That Life Can Deal (2020) 

Seth Weaver Big Band Truth (2020)

Brent Birckhead Birckhead (2019) 

Curtis Nowosad Curtis Nowosad (2019)

Anu Sun Sanguine Regum (2019) 

D.Y.K. D.Y.K. (2019)

Nickel Dime Ops Resuscitation Music (2018)

Milton Suggs The Truth Inside (2016)

Valery Ponomarev Jazz Big Band Our Father Who Art Blakey with Special Guest Benny Golson (2016)

Ronnie Burrage & Holographic Principle Dance of the Great Spirit (2019) unlisted contribution

EDUCATION

Towson University (2008 — 2010) - Master of Music, jazz and commercial music; teaching assistant; studied with trombonist/composer/arranger Jim McFalls; lead trombone in jazz ensemble and trombone group; freelance trombonist in and around Baltimore/DC

Pennsylvania State University (2003 — 2008) - Bachelor of Music, trombone performance; philharmonic orchestra (Gerardo Edelstein), wind ensemble (Dennis Glocke), jazz ensemble (Dan Yoder, Rick Hirsch), jazz combo, musical theatre/pit orchestra (Bye Bye Birdie, Sweeney Todd, Parade, others), trombone choir, Penn State Jazz Club president - coordinated artist contracts and logistics for on-campus performances (Ahmad Jamal, Roger Humphries) as well as hosted performances at Schwab Auditorium; freelance trombonist in and around State College, PA

SKILLS

Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as Apple and Google equivalents

Social media engagement and strategy

Logic Pro X - remote recording

iMovie - video editing

Sibelius - music notation program

Working knowledge of both Macs and PCs

Knowledge of Library of Congress classification system

Music History