Byron Stripling is a jazz trumpeter who has been a member of the Count Basie Orchestra.
He was born Lloyd Byron Stripling on August 20, 1961, in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] He attended Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan.
Following his studies, he was featured as lead trumpeter and soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra, under the direction of Thad Jones and Frank Foster. He toured and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, Buck Clayton, Gerry Mulligan, J.J. Johnson, Jim Hall, Sonny Rollins, Paquito D'Rivera, Freddie Cole, Jack McDuff, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Joe Henderson Big Band, and the GRP All-Star Big Band.[1][2]
Stripling debuted at Carnegie Hall with Skitch Henderson and The New York Pops.[3] He has been a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the American Jazz Philharmonic.[1]
He had the lead role in the musicals Satchmo and From Second Avenue to Broadway and a cameo in the television movie, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.[1] He again portrayed Louis Armstrong in Dave Brubeck's revival of The Real Ambassadors.[2]
In 2002, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, succeeding Ray Eubanks, the founder of Jazz Arts Group.[4]
In 2012, Stripling started being an annually featured performer at the Vail Jazz Festival over Labor Day Weekend in Vail, Colorado.[5]
In 2020, Stripling was appointed as only the second Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he now holds the Henry and Elsie Hillman Principal Pops Conductor Chair.[6] In 2024, he was named the Stein Family Principal Pops Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. [7]
