Larry Kemp

Current Jazz Trumpet Legends Larry Kemp

Current Jazz Trumpet Legends, Volume 3 in the Jazz Trumpet Legends series, is an examination of the lives and contributions of jazz trumpeters born after July 1, 1938. Included are Lee Morgan, Bobby Shew, Lew Soloff, Woody Shaw, Arturo Sandoval, Wynton Marsalis, along with scores of other men and women who created jazz with a trumpet. This is an essential guide for the student of jazz, those interested in history, and those who just like to read entertaining true stories about the most colorful people.


Current Jazz Trumpet Legends is the most comprehensive book on the subject. More than 340 trumpeters are discussed. There is a listing of female trumpeters and a listing of men whose first names might lead you to think they are female, but they aren't. There is an index of trumpeters discussed in this volume and an index of all trumpeters in the three volume series. The book concludes with a list of people whose help is acknowledged. The scholarship involved is impeccable, while the text reads as easily as a novel.


Current Jazz Trumpet Legends is the third of three volumes of profiles of jazz trumpeters organized chronologically by date of birth. The first volume, Early Jazz Trumpet covers those trumpeters born before September 1, 1924. The second volume, Modern Jazz Trumpet Legends covers those born between 1925 and July 1, 1938. The third volume, Current Jazz Trumpet Legends, covers those born after July 1, 1938.



About the Author


Larry Kemp was born in Los Angeles and spent his preschool years living in Imperial County, California. In elementary school, he moved to Albuquerque and then to Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, for secondary school. He attended the University of Pittsburgh for seven years and earned his Bachelor's in Classics and a Juris Doctor degree. He was employed for a year at WNUF-FM, the big band station in Millvale, Pennsylvania, and then at WYDD-FM, the Pittsburgh jazz station, for two years.


Kemp practiced law in Western Pennsylvania for 33 years and retired early because of contracting Parkinson's disease. The freedom from the stress of practicing law enabled him to write this book. He and his wife Virginia moved to Albuquerque to escape the Pittsburgh winters and to live closer to his mother. His adult children, Paul and Carolyn, continue to live in and near Pittsburgh. In Albuquerque, Larry returned to jazz radio and has become the primary host of the program "The House That Jazz Built," on KUNM-FM, a show dedicated to modern, progressive, avant-garde, and free jazz.