Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee

Jazz trumpeter Brandon Lee was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Growing up in a musical family, Brandon started playing piano at age 3, and by age 9 he began playing the trumpet. As a Senior in high school student Brandon was selected to perform with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for a Louis Armstrong special on PBS. In 2001, right out of high school, Brandon was one of 18 students selected to be a part of the inception of the jazz program at the Juilliard School. While at the Juilliard School, Brandon studied with such trumpet virtuosos as, Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, and Joe Wilder. Also while at Juilliard, Brandon performed with many of the jazz giants including Benny Golson, Kenny Barron, Ray Brown, Clark Terry and Hank Jones, just to name a few. Brandon also traveled to Ireland, England, Italy, Japan, and Costa Rica, and El Salvador where he taught master classes and performed in major concert halls with Juilliard. In 2007, Brandon completed both his Bachelors in Music and his Masters Degree from The Juilliard School. In August of 2007 Brandon released his debut album, From Within, which has been featured on Satellite Radio across the Nation. In March of 2010, Brandon released his 2nd CD, Absolute-Lee, which features all originals. He has also recorded with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, Rodney Whitaker, Vincent Herring, and Kirk Whalum, Jazz Conceptions Orchestra, David Berger Big Band, and Fat Cat Big Band.

Still residing in New York City, Brandon plays frequently with his own group and as a sideman in several other groups. Some of those groups include; Kenny Barron, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove and Charles Toliver’s big bands. In March 2010, Brandon was asked to performed his first major concert under his own name at the Wortham Theater in Houston, TX, where more than 800 people were in attendance.

In the fall of 2008, Brandon became the youngest to ever join as a faculty member at the Juilliard School. Since being on faculty, Brandon has had the opportunity to conduct for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and has led the orchestra in many venues such as: Dizzy's-Club-Coca-Cola; Alice Tully Hall; Snow College in Utah; and Osaka, Japan.

Brandon is currently the Assistant Jazz Orchestra Conductor, and the Artistic Coordinator for Educational Outreach at The Juilliard School.