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Brian Lynch

MULTIPLE GRAMMY© AWARD WINNER; 6 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS; JJA (Jazz Journalists Association) TRUMPETER OF THE YEAR & RECORD OF THE YEAR

“This is a new millennium, and a lot of music has gone down,” Brian Lynch said a number of years back. “I think that to be a jazz musician now means drawing on a wider variety of things than 30 or 40 years ago. Not just to play a little bit of this or a little bit of that, but to blend everything together into something that has integrity and sounds good. Not to sound like a pastiche or abruptly shifting styles; but like someone with a lot of range and understanding.”

Multiple Grammy© Award Winning trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Brian Lynch brings to his music an unparalleled depth and breadth of experience. A honored graduate of two of the jazz world’s most distinguished academies, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet, he received wide acclaim during his long tenures with Latin Jazz legend Eddie Palmieri and straight ahead master Phil Woods. He has been a valued collaborator with jazz artists such as Benny Golson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Charles McPherson; Latin music icons as diverse as Hector LaVoe and Lila Downs; and pop luminaries such as Prince. As a bandleader and recording artist he has released over 20 critically acclaimed CDs featuring his distinctive composing and arranging, and has toured the world at the helm of various ensembles reflecting the wide sweep of his music.

Voted Trumpeter Of The Year and recipient of the Record Of The Year Award by the Jazz Journalists Association, Lynch’s talents have been also recognized by top placing in the Downbeat Critics and Readers Polls (#3 Trumpet Critics Poll); as well as feature stories and highly rated reviews for his work in the New York Times, Jazz Times, and Downbeat. He has received multiple Grammy Award nominations - and garnered Grammy wins in 2020 for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and in 2007 for Best Latin Jazz Album. He is also the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Knight Foundation, Chamber Music America, and Meet The Composer.

Professor of Jazz and Studio Music at the Frost School Of Music, University of Miami, Lynch has also conducted clinics, workshops, and residencies throughout the world, including at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Harvard University, Dartmouth University, Michigan State University, Senzoku University (Japan), Yamaha Artist Services Taipei and Moscow, and the Rotterdam Codarts University. Before joining the faculty at the Frost School, Professor Lynch was on the faculty of New York University from 2003 to 2011. He has also taught at the Prinz Claus Conservatorium (Netherlands) as Visiting Professor (2002-07), Long Island University, and The New School.

Born September 12, 1956 in Urbana, Illinois, Lynch grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he apprenticed on a high level with such local residents as pianist Buddy Montgomery; while located in San Diego in 1980-81, he gained further valuable experience in the group of alto master Charles McPherson. Towards the end of 1981, Lynch moved to New York, and soon linked up with the Horace Silver Quintet (1982-1985) and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra (1982-1988). Simultaneously, he played and recorded on the Latin scene with salsa bandleader Angel Canales (1982-83) and the legendary cantante Hector LaVoe (1983-87). He began his association with Eddie Palmieri in 1987, and at the end of 1988 joined what turned out to be the final edition of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He began his tenure with The Phil Woods Quintet in 1992, which continued until Woods’ death in September 2015.

Lynch’s artist owned and operated record label Hollistic MusicWorks has released a series of critically acclaimed recordings under his name since its inception in 2010, including the Grammy Award winning Omni-American Book Club (2019), the Grammy Award nominated Madera Latino (2016), Questioned Answer (2014), and the Unsung Heroes series of recordings (2011-13), awarded a 5 star “masterpiece” rating by Downbeat magazine. His latest albums, the Songbook series Vol.1 and 2, made best of the year lists in both Downbeat and Jazz Times magazines.

Lynch also has released 17 albums as a leader between 1987 and 2010 on the Criss Cross, Ken, Sharp Nine, Cellar Live, Nagel Heyer, EWE, Zoo’t Jazz, Artist Share, and Venus recording labels. Notable albums from this series include his first album as a leader, Peer Pressure, for Criss Cross; the 1997 Spheres of Influence [Sharp Nine], which earned a 4-1/2 star Downbeat rating and was Lynch's first project to reflect the panoramic range of interests that influenced his working life as a musician; and Simpático (2006) in collaboration with Eddie Palmieri for ArtistShare, a Grammy Award winning document of the deep musical and personal friendship between Lynch and Palmieri, as well as the first completely self-produced effort by Lynch leading to the establishment of the Hollistic MusicWorks label.

Lynch’s discography as a featured artist and sideman runs to over 200 recordings, including 9 albums with Eddie Palmieri, 13 albums as part of the Phil Woods Quintet, and 3 albums with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, all featuring his contributions as arranger, composer, and featured soloist. Other notable recordings include albums with Prince, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Issac Delgado, Donald Harrison, George Russell, Tito Puente, and many other artists representing diverse genres of Jazz, Latin, and popular music. Lynch has also arranged and produced for numerous artists, including Lila Downs, Conrad Herwig (the Latin Side series of albums), Mondo Grosso, and Yerba Buena.

Lynch now devotes the majority of his performing and creative time to his own musical endeavors, centering around his own groups and recording label Hollistic MusicWorks.

Brian Lynch is a Yamaha Artist and endorses the Lefreque Sound Bridge.

Awards

Grammy© Awards

Best Large Ensemble Album, 2019 (Brian Lynch Big Band, The Omni-American Book Club)

Best Latin Jazz Album, 2006 (The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project, Simpatico)

Grammy Award Nominations

Best Instrumental Composition, 2019 (Crucible For Crisis)

Best Latin Jazz Album, 2016 (Brian Lynch Presents Madera Latino), 2008 (The Latin Side Of Wayne Shorter), 2004 (Another Kind Of Blue: The Latin Side Of Miles Davis)

Jazz Journalists Association Awards

Trumpeter Of The Year and Record Of The Year (Madera Latino), 2017

Gear

Yamaha Performing Artist

Trumpet: Yamaha YTR 9335 NY-3 (New York Artist Model); Mouthpiece: Bach Mt Verson 1C; Lefreque Sound Bridge.

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Brian Lynch, Bebel Gilberto, and Do Yeon Kim

by Jerome Wilson
April 22, 2026

This episode has an international flavor, incorporating music from Brazil, China and Korea as well as the usual sources. Musicians heard include, Brian Lynch, Don Ellis, Bebel Gilberto, The Bad Plus, and Do Yeon Kim.Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Don Ellis “Imitation" from New Ideas (New Jazz) 00:55 Brian Lynch “Kyle's Dilemma" from Torch Bearers (Hollistic MusicWorks) 8:50 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Eli Howell, Peter Erskine, Brian Lynch, Fuller Sound and more

by Benjamin Boddie
April 16, 2026

Today's Music--Right Now! Fantastic music by Charles Ruggiero, Eli Howell, Peter Erskine, Isabella Isherwood, Pete Mills, Brian Lynch, Ben Flocks, Daphne Roubini & Black Gardenia, Fuller Sound, Mike Bruzzese, Russ Spiegel, Chris Aschman, Entre Amigos, The Sistering, Alexa Tarantino, Bria Skonberg, Monika Herzig, The BLCK Madonna, Arvind Ramdas, Stephen Philip Harvey, Dave Slonaker Big Band, Daggerboard, The Skipper And Mike Clark, April Varner, Diane Marino, Darren Litzie, Corcoran Holt, Tierney Sutton & Tamir Hendelman, Julian Davis Reid, Pat Bianchi, Dan ...

Album Review

Brian Lynch, featuring Charles McPherson: Torch Bearers

Read "Torch Bearers" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 13, 2026

Trumpeter Brian Lynch, who has been at the top of his game for more than three decades, shares the stage with another seasoned maestro, alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, on Torch Bearers, wherein Lynch, McPherson and their able companions not only carry the torch for their generation but offer an upcoming legion of eager young musicians a candid lesson in jazz/bop milieu and design and how best to properly safeguard those standards. They do this without pretense or embellishment, simply by ...

Album Review

Jason Forsythe: It's About Time

Read "It's About Time" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
December 7, 2025

Trombonist and composer Jason Forsythe's debut recording as a composer, It's About Time, acts as both a declaration and a reflection: a declaration that his extensive apprenticeship with New York's jazz and Latin bands has cultivated a distinctive compositional voice, and a reflection of the various stylistic influences that have shaped his artistry. The nine-track album, performed by a top-tier sextet featuring trumpeter Brian Lynch, tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist Michael Weiss, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer ...

Album Review

Jason Charos: Opening Statement

Read "Opening Statement" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 28, 2025

Trumpeter Jason Charos was a student at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, as were alto saxophonist David Mason and pianist Connor Rohrer, while tenor Kendric McAllister was a recent graduate when Charos' impressive Opening Statement was recorded in March 2022. Since then, the “four amigos," as they are sometimes known, have headed to New York City to broaden their horizons and pursue their budding careers. The amigos are ably supported on the studio date ...

Album Review

Jason Forsythe: It's About Time

Read "It's About Time" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 19, 2025

It's About Time likely refers to the fact that although Jason Forsythe has been a jazz composer of note for decades, this is the first-ever recording he has released as leader of his own ensemble, in this case a world-class sextet whose heavyweight front line is manned by trumpeter Brian Lynch, tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf and trombonist Steve Davis. While Forsythe wrote eight of the album's nine songs--every one of which houses much to admire and commend--the ...

Album Review

Kiki Valera: Vacilón Santiaguero

Read "Vacilón Santiaguero" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
February 15, 2025

In Cuban Spanish (and, for sure, there is no generic Spanish in Latin America), vacilón means, well, one hell of a good time. And that is what you can expect from this punchy collection, a great time a la Santiago de Cuba, the capital of one of Cuba's southeastern provinces. It is the land of Bacardí rum and the origins of the 1959 Revolution. A Cuban patriot will tell you about the naval battle of Santiago de Cuba, which more ...

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