Widely recognised as a seminal figure in world jazz, trumpeter and composer Byron Wallen is constantly travelling the world recording, teaching and performing. He has been playing trumpet in various contexts, live and on record, alongside legendary musicians such as George Benson, Andrew Hill, Chaka Khan, Ingrid Laubrock, Hugh Masekela, Courtney Pine, Mulatu Astatke, Red Snapper, Lonnie Liston Smith, Style Council, Jack Dejohnette, Jean Toussaint, Cleveland Watkiss and King Sunny Ade. He has visited East Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, Indonesia and Belize (his parents' homeland). On tour Wallen often works with local musicians, developing new ideas for his performances and compositions....
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Widely recognised as a seminal figure in world jazz, trumpeter and composer Byron Wallen is constantly travelling the world recording, teaching and performing. He has been playing trumpet in various contexts, live and on record, alongside legendary musicians such as George Benson, Andrew Hill, Chaka Khan, Ingrid Laubrock, Hugh Masekela, Courtney Pine, Mulatu Astatke, Red Snapper, Lonnie Liston Smith, Style Council, Jack Dejohnette, Jean Toussaint, Cleveland Watkiss and King Sunny Ade. He has visited East Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, Indonesia and Belize (his parents' homeland). On tour Wallen often works with local musicians, developing new ideas for his performances and compositions.
With his current band, Byron Wallen’s Four Corners, he is a frequent guest at UK and international Jazz venues and festivals. Following the release of Wallen’s latest album, Portrait: Reflections on Belonging, Four Corners were shortlisted for the ‘Jazz Ensemble of the Year’ award at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2020.
In 2003, Wallen won the BBC's ‘Innovation In Jazz’ award for his third album, Indigo. For his fourth album, Meeting Ground — featuring Gnawa master musician Boujemma Boubul — he received nominations for ‘Best Band’ and ‘Best Album’ in the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards and ‘Best Jazz Act’ in the 2007 MOBO Awards.
In the UK and during his overseas tours, Wallen has taught in schools, colleges and universities, and given workshops and specialist jazz courses; he lectures in jazz composition and history of jazz at London's Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he teaches jazz trumpet and leads a selection of combos. He is also member of the jazz faculty at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy.
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