First show is SOLD OUT!! Purchase 9:30 seats by calling 855.5.VELVET or watch LIVE on http://thevelvetnote.com/live-stream

Russell Gunn: Trumpet

Kevin Bales: Piano

Delbert Felix: Bass

Terreon Gulley: Drums

The Velvet Note kicks off its reopening on Juneteenth with the brilliance of The Russell Gunn Quartet!

Russell Gunn (born October 20, 1971 in Chicago, Il. USA) raised in East St. Louis Il. As an American contemporary composer and musician, he has produced two Grammy nominated recordings, Ethnomusicology vol. 1 and Vol.2.

His initial musical interest was American Hip Hop music, and he is a pioneer of the Jazz/Hip-Hop movement.

In 1989 while still in high school in East St. Louis, IL. Gunn was named the best all-around trumpet player in the country in a field that included college and professional trumpet players by Music Fest USA, sponsored by Downbeat magazine.

Even though Gunn had scholarship offers to many major universities including Berklee School of Music, he decided to attend Jackson State University in Mississippi, where he was a Jazz Studies major and marched in the award winning marching band the Sonic Boom of The South.

In 1993, Gunn moved to New York City from St. Louis, where he became a member of the Wynton Marsalis big band, now known as Jazz At Lincoln Center. He was also in the trumpet section with Marcus Printup and Roger Ingram on Wynton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Jazz Oratorio “Blood On The Fields”.

Russell Gunn’s first recording was in 1993 with great alto saxophonist and St. Louis native Oliver Lake, who was also the founder of the World Saxophone Quartet.

As a trumpet player, Russell has performed and toured with a Whoʼs Who in contemporary music, including Oliver Lake, Branford Marsalisʼ Buckshot LeFonque, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Maxwell, DʼAngelo, Angie Stone, Jimmy Heath, The Roy Hargrove Big Band, Lou Reed, Cee Lo Green, Ne-Yo, Marcus Miller, Benny Golson, Young Jeezy, Joi, Les Nubian, GOODIE Mob, and Harry Connick Jr. among others.

EARLY SHOW IS ** SOLD OUT!!** PURCHASE 9:30 SEATS BY CALLING 855.5.VELVET OR WATCH LIVE AT http://thevelvetnote.com/live-stream