Marvin Stamm

Marvin Stamm grew up in a family that passed on to him a passion for music. On weekends, the father and mother would go out to eat with their children at clubs where bands playing dance music would perform.

Contributing to his musical development were his aunts who, as was often the case in extended families at that time, played the piano, but his approach to jazz and instrumental growth took place through his brother Gordon’s record collection: while taking trumpet lessons he received at school from 1951 to 1957, young Marvin listened intently to Gordon’s records, learning to follow patterns and improvise with the instrument, and at the age of sixteen he began playing in local jazz ensembles.

He acquired his master’s degree in trumpet performance by taking a four-year course at the University of North Texas, and the day after graduating he was enlisted in Stan Kenton‘s Mellophonium Orchestra, a formation with which he remained until 1963.

Over the next two years he played with Woody Herman’s Swingin’ Herd, and then in 1966 he moved to New York City where he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, remaining there until 1972 and becoming one of the up-and-coming young talents among big band trumpeters.

During the same period, he also collaborated with Duke Pearson’s The Big Band and later was part of Frank Sinatra’s lineup and then Benny Goodman’s sextet, also recording with Bill Evans, Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Wes Montgomery, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Paul Desmond, George Benson and many other jazz artists.

Due in part to family commitments that did not allow him much room for movement, Stamm became primarily a studio musician, of whom an average of 500 recording room sessions per year are enumerated.

With time and changing tastes, the trumpeter in the 1980s found himself supporting rhythm blues musicians such as James Brown or pop singers such as John Denver and Carly Simon in the studio.

He returned to his jazz roots in the following decade and has recently devoted much of his time to touring. He performs as a soloist, or with his quartet, in a duo together with pianist Bill Mays, in a trio with Mays and cellist Alice Horn or with symphony orchestras or the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, and has made several musical productions in the 2000s.