Norris, Alexander Pope
Trumpet player Alexander Pope Norris has played with legends Betty Carter and the Village Vanguard Band and modernists Joshua Redman and Marvin 'Smitty' Smith. He began his Latin jazz exploration with Baltimore-based Rumba Club, going on to work Afro-Cuban jazz artists Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, Giovanni Hildago, and Monguito Santamaria. He appears on over 60 CDs including Alex Norris Quintet, "A New Beginning" on the Fresh Sounds Label. Tours with Steve Winwood and Miami Sound Machine show the pop side of his career. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in 1990, received a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 1995 and earned a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music in 2007. He has taught there and at the Manhattan School, the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and Towson University. Alex is currently teaching in the jazz studies department at the Peabody Conservatory of music. Living in NYC, he remains a busy artist and clinician.