Bio

Rob Parton, one of Chicago’s busiest and versatile trumpet players, is well known and highly regarded as a studio/theatre/jazz musician, performer-educator and band-leader.

As a jazz musician, Parton performs five nights a week throughout the year as the featured artist at Chicago's Catch 35. The list of musicians who have played in the Rob Parton Trio is like a who's who in Chicago Jazz. Parton performs weekly from Tuesday through Saturday.

As a studio musician, Parton has played on hundreds of both local and national radio and television commercials and many local CD projects not only as lead trumpet but as contractor. Parton has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, Doc Severinson, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mel Torme, Beach Boys, Christopher Cross, Sheena Easton, Peabo Bryson, Celine Dion, Nick Carter, Yolanda Adams, Josh Groban, Enrique Eglasius, Natalie Cole and Maynard Ferguson to name only a few.

As an educator, Parton is Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. His duties include teaching trumpet, directing the award winning CCPA Jazz Ensembles, teaching Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz Conducting, and Music Business. The CCPA Jazz program has released numerous compact discs featuring the Jazz ensemble and vocal jazz groups. All of the CD’s have been well received both nationally and internationally in the jazz education world. When Parton is not working in Chicago you will often find him directing an All-State jazz band or acting as a guest artist with many high school and college jazz programs. He has presented concerts or clinics at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, International Association of Jazz educators convention, MENC and many other music educators conventions.

Rob Parton is well known nationally and internationally for the JAZZTECH Big Band and its seven critically acclaimed compact discs’ on the Sea Breeze Jazz label. Parton enjoys assembling the finest musicians in Chicago to perform cutting edge big band jazz. The band is also very capable of handling any style of music ranging from Count Basie to Buddy Rich. The JAZZTECH Big Band has performed numerous times at many conventions and festivals.

The Chicago Tribune has called the JAZZTECH Big Band "one of the best big bands in the country". The Chicago Sun Times characterizes the band with "hard hitting ensemble brightly crafted harmonies and expansive solos". Cadence Magazine reviews the JAZZTECH Big Band as "a band with no discernible weaknesses, one that fairly bristles with vitality and enthusiasm, that reduces even the most formidable charts and demanding unison passages to ho-hum routine".

The JAZZTECH Big Band promotes and commissions new arrangements of music from the American Songbook as well as original compositions by Chicago composers. The JAZZTECH Big Band is not a repertory band, however music performed by the great road bands Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman etc. is often played in live concerts.

Rob Parton was artist/clinician for CG Conn for over fifteen years and is very active as a clinician, performer, and adjudicator. Rob has been working recently with Bob Malone and Wayne Tanabe on the development of a new prototype trumpet by YAMAHA.