User:Hacknfrack/sandbox

Kyle Millsap (born January 21,1979, Wichita, KS) is an American trumpeter, composer, arranger, and music educator. He has written music for various brass ensemble instrumentation, with performances by ensembles at the Texas Music Educators Association convention and the National Trumpet Competition.

Early life and musical influences
Jack Cooper was born in Whittier, California on May 14, 1963, he was raised in nearby La Habra. He is the younger brother of artist and stylist Cathy Cooper and also the grandson (x4) of Mrs. Harriet Blanton Theobald, “Mother of Greenville.”[8][9] His mother, Georgie Cooper, was an accomplished classical pianist and he served as her page turner on piano and organ jobs.[10] His father was an amateur clarinet and sax player who gave Cooper his first instruments. First musically inspired by clarinetist Artie Shaw at age eleven, he later was taken by Charlie Parker's playing on the alto sax from his dad's 78's; he took up the flute in college.[11][12][13]

After graduating from Sonora High School and having first studied with Ernie Del Fante, Cooper attended Fullerton College where he studied composition and arranging with Tom Ranier and saxophone with Dave Edwards and Don Raffell.[14] While at Fullerton College he recorded on the Down Beat award winning LP, Time Tripping playing saxophone and woodwinds in FC's collegiate jazz groups. He later transferred to California State University, Los Angeles where he received a B.A. in Music education and clarinet in 1987 having studied with Vito Susca. Cooper also studied jazz composition with and was heavily influenced by Stan Kenton's former staff arranger Bob Curnow. "Since college, when I first began studying big band musical arrangements, (I) wanted to orchestrate for jazz ensembles."[15] Two years later he completed a M.A. in composition at C.S.U.L.A. and had studied with Byong-Kon Kim, William H. Hill, and David Caffey.[16] Cooper was classmates at C.S.U.L.A. and worked closely with both Eric "Bobo" Correa and Grammy winning trombonist Luis Bonilla. He has collaborated closely on several musical projects over the last 20 years with Bonilla with the most recent one being Mists: Charles Ives for Jazz Orchestra.[17]

Later composition studies were with David Baker, Gerald Wilson,[18] Manny Albam, Karl Korte, and Richard Lawn; in 1999 he earned a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Texas at Austin.[19][20]

His first notable professional work in Los Angeles as a multireedist was with the Kingsmen, Shari Lewis, Mateos Parseghian, the Tak Shindo Orchestra, Si Zentner, Steve Jam, the Dive, and the Last Mile.[7]

Professional career
Cooper has played woodwind instruments professionally since the 1980s. His work includes backing Jennifer Holiday, Kenny Rogers, Macy Gray, Manhattan Transfer, Glen Campbell, Mitch Ryder (and Detroit Wheels) and playing woodwinds on national tours for the Producers, Sweet Charity, and A Chorus Line among many others.[7] He is known primarily as a "lead alto player," a role he has played for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, and the Temptations.[23][24][25] He has also been a featured guest artist/soloist at the Western States Jazz Festival,[26] the Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival (U.K.),[27] the 45th International Horn Symposium,[28] and the Festival Virtuosi (2007) in Recife, Brazil.[29]

Cooper has been a featured artist and soloist with the Hot Springs Festival Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and the IRIS Symphony Orchestra.[30][31] He is amongst a small group of musicians who have a playing career being able to cross over from jazz to classical to pop on several woodwind instruments.

Teaching and Education Career
Kyle Millsap has been teaching at the collegiate level since 2008. In 2013, he was appointed to Texas A&M University-Kingsville as Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz. Prior positions include Visiting Assistant Professor of Trumpet at The University of Memphis from 2011-13 and Adjunct Professor of Trumpet at Murray State University from 2008-13.

Professional Endorsements
Yamaha Corporation of America Performing Artist, 2015 Torpedo Bags Artist, 2014