Lew Soloff


Lewis Michael Soloff was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and actor.

Biography

From New York City, he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. He worked with Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1968 until 1973. Prior to this, he worked with Machito, Tony Scott, Maynard Ferguson and Tito Puente.
In the 1980s he was a member of Members Only, a jazz ensemble who recorded for Muse Records.
Soloff was a regular member and sub-leader of Gil Evans' Monday Night Orchestra, started from 1983, and trained his ability as band leader. His debut album recording was supported by Gil. His 2010 recording Sketches of Spain is a tribute to the classic 1959-60 Miles Davis-Gil Evans collaboration, and he has performed the equally legendary and prodigiously difficult Evans arrangements of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Soloff was also a longtime member of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet and Mingus Big Band.
Soloff made frequent guest appearances with jazz orchestras all over the world such as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra.
He was among a handful of trumpeters capable of playing demanding lead trumpet parts while also contributing improvisational solos, and of playing "legitimate" music making him an in-demand session player for commercials and soundtracks.
Soloff died in 2015 after apparently suffering a heart attack in New York City.

Discography

As leader

With Franco Ambrosetti
With Ray Anderson
With George Benson
With Carla Bley
With Blood, Sweat & Tears
With Hank Crawford
With Gil Evans
With Maynard Ferguson
With Ricky Ford
With Michael Franks
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Jimmy Heath
With O'Donel Levy
With Herbie Mann
With Helen Merrill
With Tisziji Munoz
With Bobby Previte
With Dakota Staton
With Jeremy Steig
With Sonny Stitt
With Stanley Turrentine
With others