As a musician Jamey Simmons has had the fortune of having (and has) a varied career. Growing up in West Bend, WI, he participated in the choral and instrumental music programs at his high school. He would also admit to being in a garage band! After studying trumpet at UW- Eau Claire under Robert Baca, and learning jazz composition and arranging on his own, he travelled for a year in North America, South America, the West Indies, and Japan as the trumpet soloist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. After returning to the Eau Claire area, he continued freelance trumpet playing in the Twin Cities area, performing with such as the Jazz Minnesota Big Band, Buddy Defranco, the Temptations, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and his own group, Quintette Quixotic. Some of Jamey’s arrangements can be heard on UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble I’s CDs Brilliant Comers and Hoe Down. 

West Bend, Wisconsin native, Jamey Simmons, earned his bachelor of music and teaching certification at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire under the guidance of Robert Baca. In May of 2002 he earned his Master of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music where he studied under jazz composer and arranger Fred Sturm. As a jazz trumpet player, Simmons has toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra across the United States, South America, and Japan. Simmons has made appearances with artists as diversified as the Hornheads, the Temptations, Dave Weckl, Buddy DeFranco, Macy Gray, Jason Alexander, New York Voices, and the JazzMn Big Band out of Minneapolis. He has been twice awarded the Best Arranger Award by Downbeat Magazine for the years 2001 and 2002. In September of 2003 Mr. Simmons won first price at the Brussels Jazz Orchestra International Composition Contest in Brussels, Belgium for his composition Lock Box. Simmons has written arrangements and compositions that have been performed by the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cedar Avenue Big Band and the Middle Tennessee State University Wind Ensemble. Currently he is the top selling writer/arranger for Increase Music Publishers of St. Paul, MN (found at www.increase.com). His composition Young Person’s Guide to the Jazz Ensemble was the Editor’s Choice in the Pepper Music catalog in 2002 and is available through Heritage Jazz Works/ Lorenz Music. His compositions are also available through Really Good Music, LLC. (www.reallygoodmusic.com) Jamey enjoys spending time with his wife P.J. and three children at his house on a farm near Wartrace, Tennessee.