Jonathan Harnum

Sitka, Alaska may seem an odd place to begin playing trumpet, but that's where I started, and 30 years later I can still say it's one of the best decisions I've made in my life. For the last five or six years I've focused on playing jazz and absolutely love exploring the unlimited possibilites of improvisation, in jazz or otherwise.

My instruments are a Monette Bb trumpet (#504) with a Prana B2 mouthpiece (also a regular Monette B2, and occasionally a Schilke Jeff Tyzik model) and a LeBlanc F357 flugelhorn, the Arturo Sandoval model. I love mutes. I also play guitar and own a Gretsch hollow-body electric and an acoutstic/electric Martin (EMP-1). I own/play two didgeridoos, one of bloodwood eucalyptus by the name of Blackwater, made and carved by an aboriginal artist, and another cool-looking one made from fiberglass. Small and large percussion instruments like conga, cabasa, shekere, one-shot, clave, triangle, agogo.... My dream instrument at the moment is a Hang drum.

I have several degrees in music education; a bachelor's degree from University of Oregon, a Master's degree from Northwestern University, and I'm currently in the fourth year of my PhD in music education, also at Northwestern, a leading institution in music performance, research and teacher education. My research interests include high school general music, community music, the effects of deliberate practice, and older-adult music education.

Currently living in Chicago with my wife Michelle, I can be found at music venues around the city, absorbing the sounds of Bobby Broom, Corey Wilkes, AACM, Nicole Mitchell, 8 Bold Souls, Lollapalooza, and as many acts that come through town that I can afford. You might also see me surfing Lake Michigan....

Jon, age 12, Sitka, Alaska

messing around with Hugo Claudin and Johnny Unicorn at Mexicains sans Frontieres