COMPOSER / TRUMPET PLAYER / MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Brad Black is a Los Angeles based professional trumpet player, composer-arranger and musical director. He has performed for audiences around the world, traveling to over 60 countries sharing his love and gift of music. As a performing musician, he has been on the world stage for over 17 years as a lead and solo trumpet player, performing with many of today's top entertainers, including The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, where for three full years, he was often a featured soloist. In Los Angeles, Brad operates out of his fully equipped home studio, and enjoys playing locally with groups such as The Paul McDonald Big Band, the Kevin van den Elzen Big Band, Lady Sings, Trumpet Swings! featuring vocalist Maria Schafer, as well as performing in the orchestra for numerous musicals with Music Theatre West in Long Beach, CA, including Nice Work If You Can Get It, Yankee Doodle, Elf, Oliver, Catch Me If You Can, Something Rotten, Holiday Inn, Ragtime, and The Andrews Brothers.
Available for writing/tracking trumpet parts…click on “booking” at the top of the page
Brad also is a busy composer/arranger/orchestrator for both film and television, recently wrapping up production of 8 episodes of a 1930’s Spy Sitcom by Sheepshed Entertainment to be released next year. Also recently two of his arrangements (Mark the Halls and O Swing) were featured in Lifetime Movie Network’s premiere movie “A Christmas Wish” debuting on Thanksgiving Night 2019. Brad also worked with award winning filmmaker and photographer Shawn Heinrichs. along with Conservation International and the Manta Initiative on the film "New Caledonia, Mother of the Coral Sea", which received the award for Best Narrative Short at the November 2018 Independent Shorts Awards. In September of 2018 he also scored the dramatic thriller ADRESTIA which was an official selection of the LA Film Awards. As a composer and arranger, he traverses the musical landscape. His composition style ranges from romantic classical to electronic and all styles in between. His arrangements have also been used in major productions on cruise lines and he often works as an arranger/show designer for solo artists and acts around the world.
As a musical director, Brad has over 10 years of experience, including 9 years as a Musical Director on the storied Cunard Line on board the Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 ocean liners. In charge of the entire musical product of the ship, totaling 33 musicians and solo artists on a daily basis in the various venues, he regularly produced and directed highly rated shows featuring the orchestra in which he performed both as the lead trumpet player and also the Musical Director/Conductor.
He began his musical studies on piano at the age of 6 studying privately in a studio, and music theory and ear training with his father Charles Black, who is also an accomplished musician and educator. At the age of 8 he received his first trumpet and immediately fell in love with the instrument and was performing solos in public by the age of 10. Growing up in a musical household, he was exposed to all styles of music including classical, black american music, gospel and rock. Throughout the years Brad has performed in all genres of music on a professional level and his chameleon like ability to bend his musical abilities to any style keeps him in demand as a lead and solo artist in many genres of music!
Brad attended Baylor University from 1996-2000. While at Baylor, Brad was an Honors Student and studied both classical and commercial trumpet, as well as classical and commercial piano.