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 has also played with several jazz groups in New York’s major jazz clubs, including; Kenny Barron, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove and Charles Toliver’s bands. In the fall of 2008, Brandon became the youngest member to ever join the Juilliard jazz faculty. Brandon is currently the conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra.