Jazz trumpeter Nathan Breedlove always finds his way back to the Pacific Northwest.
Breedlove, who has been nominated for a Grammy twice, was a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and spent almost a decade performing with the groundbreaking ska group Skatalites, was born at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington. When he was five, his family relocated to Germany, and then Memphis, Tennessee. But music would call Breedlove back to the Pacific Northwest.
"When I joined the Air Force band, where did they send me? To Tacoma, of all the places in the world," Breedlove said.
Breedlove is now a longtime resident of Seattle. Previously a member of Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, he plays regularly in musical theater pit orchestras and with The nu Trio, a group he started with bassist Phil Sparks and drummer Brian Kirk in The nu Trio.
More recently, he joined a genre-bending group with his nephew, B-Boy Fidget (AKA Marcus Sharpe), brother Ted Sharpe, and soul-jazz-Afrobeat ensemble Global Heat. Breedlove also teaches jazz and ska at jazz education nonprofit Jazz Night School.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
KNKX's Alexa Peters: Tell me about growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. Was there music around your house?
Nathan Breedlove: Well, the way it started was I was a military brat, so my father and his family are from Memphis, but he was stationed a lot in Fort Lewis. So, I was born in Fort Lewis, Tacoma, Washington.
I stayed in the Washington area until I was five, and then we went to Germany for three years. When we came back from Germany, we ended up at back in Tacoma for one year, and then we moved to Memphis.
Memphis was where my music aspirations started, you know. That's when I started piano lessons from this lady, Elmira L. Cole. Cole was also a Booker T of the MGs' teacher.
Peters: Why did you decide to learn jazz and/or blues? What drew you into the form(s)?
Breedlove: When I went to school, I was always in the school band. I went to two different high schools. Westwood was the first high school, and we had a jazz band there, and that was my real introduction to playing jazz. At the time, I was totally into classical.
In my 10th grade year, my mother decided she was going to send me to another high school to get a better education. She sent me to this place, Hillcrest High School, which had an internationally-known jazz program. So I arrived there my 11th grade year, and I was kind of a fish out of water. David Joyner was playing piano, writing big band arrangements, you know. Those guys were light years ahead of me.
They had pre-picked the trumpet section for the jazz band the summer before, so I couldn't come in on trumpet, so the director, Mr. Jim Terry, he's the most important first musical figure in my life. He requisitioned a set of electric vibes from the school district, and so for a year, I played jazz vibes.
I was at a clinic with Gary Burton, and he taught me his four mallet technique on vibes. So, at the first major jazz festival, I won the "Outstanding Musician" award for playing "Summertime."
Peters: Did you like playing vibes?
Breedlove: Yeah, that was cool, but I always had trumpet in my soul, you know. At the end of the year the trumpet section was reselected and I got all the trumpet solos, happy heaven!
Peters: You played with Lionel Hampton's orchestra. What was your time in New York like?
Breedlove: I moved to the East Coast in 1990 and that's when I started spending all my time in New York. I got the gig with Lionel Hampton, you know. He reminded me, he said, we got some Clifford Brown charts in the basement. We're gonna play some of the Clifford Brown charts. So, I was all excited, you know.
The first three months, I didn't even get to play a solo. So, on the fourth month, he gave me a solo, and we were playing Madison Square Garden, and Lionel Hampton was late because he was meeting with President Bush. So, I was playing a solo, and I could see Lionel checking me out in the wings, you know.
Then we had the Idaho Jazz Festival. We flew out and played that and they had a jam session afterwards, and a whole bunch of luminaries and cats were there. But, there was no pianist, so I said, 'well, I'll play piano, I'll comp for you guys.' So I started comping, and then the rhythm section showed up, just the drums and bass. We started playing. Lionel's valet, Ruben, came up to me, he was all excited, he said, 'We didn't know you could play like that."
And so the next morning we had a rehearsal, and Hampton asked the lead trombonist, Charles, who'd been in the band at the longest time. He said, "Charles, do we have any of those Clifford Brown charts in the book?" And Charles said, "We haven't had any of that in the book for over 20 years, Gates." Lionel said, "Well, find me something to feature a trumpet, find me something to feature a trumpet," and that's when I got my feature.
Peters: Inherent in jazz are a variety of values like improvisation and collaboration. What aspects of jazz and its culture do you most identify with?
Breedlove: Well, first it was the people, the cats have a second sense for their new coming cats, you know. The wise ones, they're always kind of on the lookout. And so I realized, like, when I got to New York one night, I went to Bradley's, which was the number one jazz hang spot, and as I walk in the club, Wynton Marsalis is playing trumpet and Roy Hargrove is standing over to the side.
Mulgrew [Miller] was on the gig at that night. So, as I come in the club, it's jumping, Wynton's playing some kind of swinging tune, and I worked my way to the back of the club. The band changed tunes and started playing the blues, and Wynton started fumbling around on the blues. I make my way back to Mulgrew, and I said, "Man, I sure would like to catch this sucker while he's limping." Mulgrew said, "Go. Go get him, go get him!"
I took that as carte blanche. I broke my horn out, put my mouthpiece on, walked up to the stage. I just jumped in. And so it was three trumpets: me, Roy, and Wynton. So, we had a trumpet battle royale.
Now, I didn't know any of the politics of the club or anything, because you're not supposed to just jump up and start playing when nobody knows who you are. That night, Wendy, the owner of the club, came up and introduced herself to me, and said, "Nathan, welcome to the club." She didn't kick me out or anything, so that was my magical material moment in New York — that one solo, that one night.
Peters: What are some musical projects you're focused on right now?
Breedlove: My nephew plays and arranges and raps with his band. His name is Marcus Sharpe. I did a couple gigs with them, and I have one more gig coming up. It's like an international kind of thing. I go up and play a couple of hip hop jazz standards.
The nu Trio; I've had that going on for 11 years now. I haven't done anything post-Covid.
I'm trying to restart that with Brian Kirk and Phil Sparks.
Peters: What do you think makes the Seattle jazz and blues scene special or notable, if anything?
Breedlove: I would say the few participants that have maintained themselves in the business, like Jay Thomas and Gary Hammond, and you know some of the older cats that have made sure to keep turning it over to the young cats.
Jim Knapp, he was a great teacher at Cornish, and so was Chuck Deardorf. Those guys have come along and left the lasting imprint and kept the students motivated, and Cornish became a collecting kind of place for aspiring New York-bound musicians. We had a whole group of young people leave Cornish who went right to New York — Jim Black, Brad Shepik, all of those cats — and they made a name for Seattle.
