Tim Hagans

Tim Hagans (born August 19, 1954) is an American jazz trumpeter, arranger, and composer. He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental Composition for "Box of Cannoli" on The Avatar Sessions (Fuzzy Music, 2010); Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Animation*Imagination (Blue Note, 1999); and Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Re-Animation (Blue Note, 2000).

Career
Hagans was born and grew up in Dayton, Ohio, United States. His early inspirations included Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Thad Jones, to whom he dedicated For the Music Suite, a 40-minute piece for jazz orchestra composed on a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1974, Hagans joined the Stan Kenton band, with whom he played until 1977, when he toured with Woody Herman. He then left for Europe, where he lived in Malmö, Sweden, a hotbed of the European jazz scene. While in Europe, he toured extensively and played with Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Horace Parlan, and Thad Jones. His first recorded composition, "I Hope This Time Isn't the Last," appears on the album Thad Jones Live at Slukefter (Metronome, 1980).

In 1987, he moved to New York City. He has performed with Maria Schneider, Yellowjackets, Steps Ahead, Secret Society, and Gary Peacock. Hagans has worked extensively with producer and saxophonist Bob Belden on a variety of recordings and live performances, including their ongoing Animation/Imagination project. Festivals at which he has performed include the Mount Fuji Festival in Japan, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Berlin Jazz Tage, and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Hagans has taught master classes at universities throughout the world.

He taught at the University of Cincinnati from 1982 to 1984 and at Berklee College of Music from 1984 to 1987. From 1996 to 2010, he was Artistic Director and Composer-in-Residence for the Norrbotten Big Band located in Luleå, Sweden. The Norrbotten Big Band is a 17-piece jazz orchestra for whom Hagans wrote and arranged original compositions, with guest artists including Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, and Rufus Reid, an enterprise culminating in the Grammy Award nominated album, The Avatar Sessions: The Music of Tim Hagans, for which the Norbotten Big Band traveled to New York. His compositions are featured on numerous recordings with the Norrbotten Big Band, including Future North (Double-Time, 1998), Future Miles (ACT, 2002), and Worth the Wait (Fuzzy Music, 2007).

Hagans has been commissioned by several other European jazz orchestras, including the NDR Big Band in Hamburg, UMO in Helsinki, and he was Composer-in-Residence at the Jazz Baltica Festival in 2000. In 2008, he was awarded the ASCAP/IAJE Established Composer Award, and in 2009 he was commissioned by the Barents Composers Orchestra to write a piece for strings, woodwinds, and percussion: Daytonality, a piece based on improvisational melodic language.

Hagans is the subject of the feature documentary Boogaloo Road, directed by Runar Enberg and Marianne Soderberg. He is a featured soloist on Howard Shore's soundtrack for the feature film The Score starring Marlon Brando, Edward Norton, and Robert De Niro.

Following his interest in exploring theatrical venues for innovative jazz, he is Composer-in-Residence with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, a dance company located in Houston, Texas, and in New York City. In January 2012, his composition Outside My Window was performed with the MBDE at Dance Theatre of Harlem. He also performs with author-actor Peter Josyph in duets consisting of haiku texts and freely improvised trumpet, including Josyph's the way of the trumpet, a haiku novel written for and dedicated to Hagans.

In June 2012, Hagans was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

As leader

 * From the Neck Down (MoPro, 1983)
 * No Words (Blue Note, 1993)
 * Audible Architecture (1994)
 * Hub Songs, the Music of Freddie Hubbard (1997)
 * Animation – Imagination (Blue Note, 1999)
 * Re-Animation Live! with Bob Belden (Blue Note, 1999)
 * Between the Lines with Marc Copland (SteepleChase, 2000)
 * Future Miles (ACT, 2002)
 * Beautiful Lily (Pirouet, 2006)
 * Alone Together (Pirouet, 2008)
 * The Avatar Sessions (2010)
 * The Moon is Waiting (Palmetto, 2011)

As sideman
With Blue Wisp Big Band
 * Butterfly (Mopro, 1982)
 * The Smooth One (Mopro, 1983)
 * Live at Carmelo's (Mopro, 1984) – live
 * Rollin' with Von Ohlen (Mopro, 1985)

With Bob Belden
 * Treasure Island (Sunnyside, 1990)
 * Straight to My Heart: The Music of Sting (Blue Note, 1991)
 * When the Doves Cry: The Music of Prince (Blue Note, 1994)
 * Bob Beldon Presents Strawberry Fields (Blue Note, 1996)
 * Shades of Blue (Blue Note, 1996)
 * Tapestry (Blue Note, 1997)
 * Black Dahlia (Blue Note, 2001)

With Marc Copland
 * Softly... (Savoy Jazz, 1998)
 * Between the Lines (SteepleChase, 2000)

With John Fedchock
 * New York Big Band (Reservoir, 1995) – recorded in 1992
 * On the Edge (Reservoir, 1997)

With Jon Gordon
 * 1994: Ask Me Now (Criss Cross, 1995)
 * 1995: Witness (Criss Cross, 1996)

With Jon Irabagon
 * 2018: Dr. Quixotic's Traveling Exotics  (Irabbagast Records, 2018)

With Vic Juris
 * For the Music (Jazzpoint, 1992)
 * Music of Alec Wilder (Double-Time, 1996)

With Stan Kenton With Andy LaVerne
 * Fire Fury & Fun (Creative World, 1974)
 * Journey Into Capricorn (Creative World, 1976)
 * Kenton '76 (Creative World, 1976)
 * Kenton Live in Europe (Decca, 1977) – live
 * Street of Dreams (Creative World, 1979) – compilation
 * Severe Clear (SteepleChase, 1990)
 * Serenade to Silver (SteepleChase, 1996) – recorded in 1995

With Joe Lovano
 * Worlds (Label Bleu, 1989)
 * Universal Language (Blue Note, 1992)
 * 52nd Street Themes (Blue Note, 2000)
 * Streams of Expression (Blue Note, 2006)

With Mark Masters
 * The Clifford Brown Project (2003)
 * Porgy and Bess: Redefined (2005)
 * Wish Me Well (2006)
 * Farewell Walter Dewey Redman (2008)

With Ron McClure
 * Sunburst (SteepleChase, 1992)
 * Concrete Canyon (SteepleChase, 1996)
 * Double Triangle (Naxos Jazz, 1999)

With Bob Mintzer
 * Departure (DMP, 1991) – recorded in 1990
 * Only in New York (DMP, 1994) – recorded in 1993
 * The First Decade (DMP, 1995)

With Maria Schneider
 * 1992: Evanescence (Enja, 1994)
 * 1995: Coming About (Enja, 1996)

With Bert Seager
 * Time to Burn (Antilles, 1986)
 * Because They Can (Antilles, 1987)

With Steve Slagle
 * The Steve Slagle Quartet (SteepleChase, 1993)
 * Spread the Word (SteepleChase, 1995)

With Ernie Wilkins
 * 1980: Ernie Wilkins & the Almost Big Band (Storyville, 1981)
 * 1981: Almost Big Band Live! At Slukefter Jazz Club In Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen (Matrix, 1982) – live
 * 1981: Live! At the Slukefter Jazz Club (Matrix, 1982) – live

With others
 * 1980 Eclipse, Thad Jones
 * 1986 Music for Jazz Orchestra, Orange Then Blue
 * 1991 Dancing Voices, Judi Silvano
 * 1992 Beyond Another Wall: Live in China, George Gruntz
 * 1992 Like a River, Yellowjackets
 * 1994 Gu-Ru, Kenny Werner
 * 1994 Until Further Notice..., Steve Rochinski
 * 1994 Vibe, Steps Ahead
 * 1994 Local Color, Jay Anderson
 * 1995 Passion Dance, Roseanna Vitro
 * 1995 Primal Blue, Kenny Burrell
 * 1995 Regarding the Soul, Dee Carstensen
 * 1995 Right as the Rain, Helen Schneider
 * 1995 Secrets, Joey Calderazzo
 * 1996 The Open Road, Don Braden
 * 1996 True Image, Jarmo Savolainen
 * 1997 Four Track Mind, Seamus Blake
 * 1997 Further Ado, Greg Osby
 * 1997 San Juan, Jim Snidero
 * 1997 The Gift, Gordon Brisker
 * 1998 Currents, Charles Pillow
 * 1999 Joyful Noise: A Tribute to Duke Ellington, Don Sebesky
 * 1999 Let's Call This That, Hal Galper
 * 1999 Syzygy, Jim Nolet
 * 1999 The Undiscovered Few, Rodney Jones
 * 2001 17 (Seventeen), Mark Soskin
 * 2003 5000 Miles, Nils Landgren
 * 2003 It's About Time, Charles Blenzig
 * 2003 Land of Shadow, Conrad Herwig
 * 2004 Exploration, Grachan Moncur III
 * 2006 Kinesthetics, Scott Kinsey
 * 2007 Worth the Wait, Peter Erskine
 * 2009 Coming Through Slaughter: The Bolden Legend, Dave Lisik Orchestra
 * 2010 México Azul, Magos Herrera
 * 2011 Agemo, Animation
 * 2011 Asiento, Animation