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Ashlin Parker born June 21, 1982) is an American jazz trumpeter and educator.

Life and career
Ashlin Parker was born in Charlotte, NC on June 21, 1982. He began studying trumpet at age 10 and attended Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte from 7th grade through 11th grade. Ashlin attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for his senior year in high school and graduated in 2000. At UNCSA, he studied classical trumpet with Raymond Mase of the American Brass Quintet and the Julliard School of Music. During high school, Ashlin performed at numerous regional festivals and in venues such as cultural and performing arts centers, restaurants, and churches.

Ashlin earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the Shenandoah Conservatory in 2005, having studied jazz trumpet with Craig Fraedrich, soloist for the US Army Blues. From this location in northern Virginia, Ashlin played at numerous clubs and events throughout Washington, DC, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. Ashlin was fortunate to play at the St. Louis Jazz Festival in Senegal, Africa and the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Netherlands during his undergraduate years.

Following graduation from Shenandoah, Ashlin worked as a sideman, arranger, and bandleader for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines from 2005-2007. After playing with the Voyager of the Seas Orchestra and the Radiance of the Seas Orchestra, he led the Ashlin Parker Quartet on the Radiance of the Seas in 2007. Travels included the various Caribbean islands, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, the North American west coast from Mexico to Alaska, Hawaii, and the Mediterranean countries of Italy, France, Spain, and Monaco.

Ashlin won a scholarship and graduate assistantship to participate with the Louis Armstrong Outreach Program at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and moved to the Crescent City in 2007. While he was still a graduate student, Ashlin began to perform with Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO). He became a recording member of NOJO when the orchestra performed for the CD, Book One, which was released in 2009 and received that year’s Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. Ashlin continues to be a regular member of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, having toured nationally and internationally with NOJO to play the large concert halls of the United States and Brazil as well as numerous jazz festivals such as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Playboy Jazz Festival, and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival. In October 2012, NOJO will be performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Ashlin also played regularly with the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, featuring Ellis Marsalis and Delfeayo Marsalis. Other band memberships included Russell Batiste and Friends, Government Majik, Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown and Chocolate City, NOJO Allstars, and the Rex Gregory Chamber Ensemble. In addition to leading his own gig at Snug Harbor, Ashlin played with such musicians as Jason Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Ed Peterson, Sonny Fortune, David Torkinowski, Steve Masakowski, Adonis Rose, Vincent Gardner, Ron Westray, Brian Coogan, Simon Lott, and Christian Scott. Venues commonly included House of Blues, Tipitina’s, D.B.A., Blue Nile, Donna’s, The Spotted Cat, Dragon’s Den, Balcony Music Club, The Maple Leaf, Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, and Café Negril. Ashlin will graduate with a Master of Music in Jazz Studies in December 2009.

In 2008, Ashlin toured nationally with the charity organization, Comic Relief USA, as lead trumpet in their show: The Return of Tony Clifton with the Katrina Kiss My Ass Orchestra. He has returned periodically to participate in filming, recording, and performance events with Comic Relief and Tony Clifton in 2009.

Ashlin has been involved in charity work since he was in high school. At the Afro American Cultural Center, he gave his first benefit concert in 1998 in support of Habitat for Humanity, then continued work with Habitat through a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina evacuees at the Charlotte Coliseum in 2005, benefit performances for Habitat workers rebuilding homes in New Orleans (2007-09), and with the national Comic Relief tour in 2008. Coincidentally, in 2008-09 Ashlin lived in Musician’s Village in New Orleans, a Habitat for Humanity redevelopment project begun after Hurricane Katrina.

Discography

 * Book One, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (World Village, 2009)
 * Tony Clifton Sings Tender Love Songs (Comic Relief US, 2010)
 * Pat Casey and the New Sound (Pat Casey and the New Sound, 2010)
 * Zazanova Zaza Marjanishvili (2006)
 * [Khris Royal and Dark Matter] (HyperSoul Records, 2011)
 * A Living Tribute to Harold Battiste. Recorded Live at the 2012 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, (MUNCKMIX, Inc, 2012)
 * Wanderlust, (Cliff Hines, 2013)
 * Harold Battiste Presents the Next Generation Big Band (AFO, 2013)