Home » Jazz Musicians » Jonathan Saraga
Jonathan Saraga
Jonathan Saraga is a New York City-based trumpeter, composer, arranger, producer, educator and Doctor of Musical Arts. He won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Solo Competition in 2007 and competed as a finalist in the 2009 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition. He has been selected for four intensive and/or residency programs including the 2011 School for Improvisational Music Summer Intensive Program, the 2015 Banff International Summer Intensive Program in Jazz and Creative Music, the 2019 Banff Early Fall Musicians in Residence program and the 2021 Chashama chaNorth Artist in Residence program. Additional residency related accolades include finalist status in the 2021 Haleakala National Park Artist in Residence program and waitlist status for the 2021 Millay Colony of the Art’s Core Residency program. Jonathan has also competed as a finalist in three jazz-trumpet vacancy auditions—the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra (2020), U.S. Navy Band Commodores (2021) and the Air Force Academy Band (2021). In 2022, he became a selected member of the Recording Academy’s New York Chapter.
Jonathan received the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award in 2016, was selected as a finalist in the 2019 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant competition, as a semi- finalist in the 2021 Unsigned Only Music Competition and received a total of five Semi-Finalist selections and one Honorable-Mention selection in the International Songwriting Competition between 2016 and 2017. In 2020, Saraga was chosen to present at the Association for Popular Music Education conference in Edinburgh Scotland, and at the International Society for Improvised Music conference in Melbourne, Australia. He has received Outstanding Performance and Outstanding Arrangement Downbeat Student Music Awards (2020 & 2021) and was selected to participate in the 2020 and 2021 BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. Jonathan has also received commissions and/or grants from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers, United States Artists, the University of Colorado Boulder Music Advisory Board, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, the Actors Fund/Local 802 Musicians Union, the Jazz Foundation of America, the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance, and the Recording Academy/MusiCares.
Dr. Saraga has played in internationally acclaimed ensembles such as the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, the Birdland Big Band, the Mingus Big Band, Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, the Jimmy Greene Big Band, Remy Le Boeuf’s Assembly of Shadows Orchestra, the Terraza Big Band, the Valery Ponomarev Big Band, Manuel Valera’s New Cuban Express Big Band, the Samuel Torres Big Band, the Jihye Lee Jazz Orchestra, the Hyeseon Hong Jazz Orchestra, the Tracy Yang Jazz Orchestra, the Erica Seguine/Shannon Baker Jazz Orchestra, the Migiwa Miyajima Jazz Orchestra and Brass Against, as well as ensembles led by Tyshawn Sorey, Steve Coleman, and Henry Cole.
Awards
2022: Recording Academy Member Class, New York Chapter - Selected Member
2021: BMI Jazz Composers Workshop - Selected Participant
2021: U.S. Air Force Academy Band jazz/commercial trumpet vacancy auditions - Finalist (1 of 2 candidates)
2021: Unsigned Only Music Competition – Semi-Finalist
2021: U.S. Navy Band Commodores jazz trumpet vacancy (Washington DC, Washington) – Finalist (1 of 2)
2021: Millay Colony for the Arts Core Residency – Waitlist
2021: Haleakala National Park Artist in Residence program (Maui, Hawaii) – Finalist
2021: Downbeat Student Music Award, Graduate College Outstanding Arrangements, Small Ensemble – Winner/Recipient
2021: Chashama chaNorth Summer Residency Program
2020: United States Artists Grant
2020: International Society of Arrangers and Composers Grant
2020: University of Colorado Boulder, Music Advisory Board Grant
2020: Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation Grant
2020: The Actors Fund/Local 802 Musicians Union Grant
2020: The Jazz Foundation of America Grant
2020: The Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance Grant
2020: The Recording Academy/MusiCares Grant
2020: GRAMMY-winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra’s 4th trumpet chair auditions – Finalist (1 of 3)
2020: BMI Jazz Composers Workshop - Selected Participant
2020: Downbeat Student Music Award, Outstanding Performance, Latin Group, Undergraduate Category – Recipient
2020: Association for Popular Music Education conference (Edinburgh Napier University-Edinburgh, Scotland) – Selected Presenter
2020: International Society for Improvised Music conference (Melbourne Conservatorium of Music-Melbourne, Australia) – Selected Presenter
2019: Banff Early Fall Musicians in Residence program
2019: Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant competition – Finalist
2017: International Songwriting Competition – Winner/Honorable Mention/Finalist
2017: International Songwriting Competition – Semi-Finalist
2016: ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award – Winner/Recipient
2016: International Songwriting Competition – Semi-Finalist
2015: Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music
2011: School for Improvisational Music Summer Intensive Program
2009: Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition – Finalist (1 of 5)
2007: International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition – Winner
Gear
Yamaha Zeno YTR435 37 Bb trumpet
Bach Stradivarius Elkhart 37 Bb trumpet
Blessing 100th Anniversary red brass bell flugelhorn
Piezo-Barrel mouthpiece pick-up w/ Boss Harmonist HR-2, MXR Blue-Box & Lunchbox Mini
Tags
Hyeseon Hong Jazz Orchestra: Things Will Pass
by Jack Bowers
There are a handful of things you should know about Hyeseon Hong (pronounced hay-sun hong), as each of them impacts the scope and purpose of the music on Things Will Pass. First, she is well-versed in the shaping and subtleties of contemporary big-band jazz; second, she was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea; third, she formed her own big band after relocating from Korea to New York City more than a decade ago; fourth, and perhaps most important, she ...
Continue ReadingErica Seguine: The New Day Bends Light
by Angelo Leonardi
Impegnandosi nel ruolo di produttore, Darcy James Argue dà particolare considerazione al debutto discografico di quest'ensemble, fondato nel 2011 a New York dalle compositrici Erica Seguine e Shon Baker. La prima è anche arrangiatrice e guida dell'orchestra, la seconda entra nel cast come sassofonista. Dopo varie esibizioni in locali chiave della Big Apple, le due leader hanno selezionato sette composizioni originali dal loro repertorio, incidendole con un ampio organico comprendente talentuosi solisti della metropoli. Alcuni di essi ...
Continue ReadingErica Seguine/Shon Baker Orchestra: The New Day Bends Light
by Jack Bowers
The New Day Bends Light, the debut recording by the twelve-year-old Erica Seguine/Shon Baker Orchestra, is interesting on a number of levels, not the least of which is emotional. The leaders and their twenty-one piece ensemble are clearly committed to the music and do their best to breathe life into each of the album's seven numbers, three of which were written by Seguine, three by Baker and the other ("Ose Shalom") by Nurit Hirsh. Aside from that, there is the ...
Continue ReadingAlex Heffron: Looking Out
by Hrayr Attarian
Based in Denver, Colorado, Alex Heffron is an imaginative guitarist and intelligent composer. His debut, the engaging Looking Out, demonstrates these talents amply. On it, Heffron leads a sextet consisting of like-minded musicians through an intriguing set of eight of his originals with elegant confidence and simmering passion. The title track opens the album with a charmingly effervescent mood. Over infectious rhythmic vamps, the frontline play the main theme with vibrant and muscular refrains. Heffron takes center stage ...
Continue ReadingJonathan Saraga: Journey to a New World
by Troy Dostert
It's been five years since Jonathan Saraga's debut release, First Vision, but the trumpeter's sophomore album was worth waiting for. Saraga's precise and passionate technique, combined with thoughtful, well- constructed compositions (and a couple nicely-arranged cover tunes) make for a stimulating listen that rewards on a number of levels. The record's title captures the feel of the music well, as each track pursues its own distinctive path, often developing in unexpected ways that are melodically rich and rhythmically sophisticated.
Continue ReadingJonathan Saraga Quintet: First Vision
by Dan Bilawsky
When young artists release their first album, it's always tempting to say they “show potential" or “are off to a good start," but those comments tend to be kindly veiled takes on “you get an A for effort, but should have waited a bit longer." Jonathan Saraga need not worry about having such pacifying comments thrown his way; the trumpeter's First Vision isn't the stuff of amateurs on the brink of musical maturity, it's a stand-up-and-take-notice offering. ...
Continue ReadingJonathan Saraga Quintet: First Vision
by Dan McClenaghan
Trumpeter Jonathan Saraga opens his debut, First Vision with the eleven-and-a-half-minute original, “Guidance," a probing rumination that flares up during his solo. The tune as a whole is a slow burn, but it bursts into high flames as it comes to its conclusion.The leader has assembled a fine quintet of standard configuration--two horns, a chording instrument (here, guitar), bass and drums. The music, all Saraga-penned, has an uncommon freshness coming from a 24 year-old artist who is well ...
Continue ReadingEnter the "Jonathan Saraga Quintet - First Vision" Giveaway at All About Jazz!
Source:
All About Jazz
All About Jazz members are invited to enter the “Jonathan Saraga Quintet - First Vision“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on February 25th. Click here to enter the contest
(Becoming a fan of Jonathan Saraga at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)
Good luck! About Jonathan Saraga
Jonathan Saraga is a native of Manhattan, NY, and has performed around NYC for over 13 years. Having been a part of over ...
read more
"His chops, lust for musical life and don't-box-me-into-a-stylistic-corner mentality make him seem like the musical offspring of trumpeters Dave Douglas and Ambrose Akinmusire."
-Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
“I have long been an admirer of Jonathan's musicianship, both as an excellent instrumentalist and a thoughtful, creative jazz improviser. Jonathan embodies what I feel is the best approach to modern jazz music: a thorough grounding in the rich tradition of the music coupled with a restless, searching spirit that seeks to express the music of now.”
-Jimmy Greene
Primary Instrument
Trumpet
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Intermediate to advanced
Credentials/Background
I have taught multi-level in-person and virtual music playing/appreciation courses for 7 greater-New York-area based organizations: the Afro-Latin Jazz Academy, the Gramercy Brass Orchestra of New York, New York Ensemble Classes, the Lyceum Kennedy International School, Jubilee Enrichment Programs, Jazz Empowers and the New York Jazz Academy. I have also completed 6 semesters of service as a Graduate Part-Time Instructor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where I taught multiple playing ensembles as well as 3 semesters of a 100+ student History of Jazz lecture class for non-majors.
I specialize in the following broad areas of musical study: Trumpet, Flugelhorn, General Music, Music Appreciation, Composition/Songwriting, Arranging, Ear Training, Music History (includes classical, jazz, and world musics), Music Theory, Sight Singing and Sight Reading
Joe Lovano
saxophone
Loren Stillman
saxophone, alto
Sonny Rollins
saxophone
Michael Brecker
saxophone, tenor
John Coltrane
saxophone
Jimmy Greene
saxophone
Ambrose Akinmusire
trumpet
Peter Evans
trumpetMusic
Videos
Jonathan Saraga
Location: New York City
Instrument: Trumpet
Born: August 26, 1987
Publicist: Two for the Show Media
