Cecil Bridgewater
Trumpeter/Producer/Composer/Arranger/Educator
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Cecil’s 50 plus years of experience includes roles as composer, arranger and soloist with the Max Roach Quartet and Double Quartet. Prior to this, he was a member of Horace Silver’s Quintet and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. He has also shared the stage and /or studio with the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, Art Blakey, and Wynton Marsalis among others.
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Cecil Bridgewater is a trumpeter who realizes the lineage of the trumpet and has an appreciation for its place in contemporary music. Cecil explores his artistic depth on his releases, I Love Your Smile and Mean What You Say. His illustrious career began with the musical training he received from his parents in Illinois where he grew up. His father, Cecil Bernard Bridgewater, a trumpet player, inspired him to study trumpet. Also, he performed with and wrote for the high school Dance Band and played weekend gigs with band leader/uncle Pete Bridgewater.
After study at the University of Illinois, he went to Chicago for further study and professional performances. After a two-year tour of duty with the Army which included a tour of duty in Viet Nam, he toured with the University of Illinois Jazz Band in Eastern Europe and Russia. They made the rounds at the Newport Jazz Festival and several prestigious collegiate jazz festivals, most notably the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, where Cecil was the recipient of the Best trumpet, Best Overall Musician, Best Small Group and Best Big Band awards.
Cecil moved to New York in 1970 where he established himself as an international artist. His recognition increased exponentially after joining the Horace Silver Quintet and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. As a soloist, writer, arranger and musical consultant, he has collaborated with such musical luminaries as Max Roach with his quartet and double quartet, among others. Cecil’s compositions and arrangements have been recorded by and performed by Lena Horne, Vanessa Rubin, the Uptown String Quartet, the Count Basie Orchestra and Dee Dee Bridgewater, to name a few. He has received commissions from the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Atlanta Arts Festival, University of Illinois, Jazzmobile and Meet the Composers that produced the “Cannonball Adderley Suite” that had its premiere in February 1994 in Long Beach, California and again in March 1996 in Washington, D.C. Cecil Bridgewater co-produced with Vanessa Rubin her RCA/Novus CD, which is attribute to Carmen McRae – “I’m Glad There is You" and Antonio Hart’s RCA/Novus CD – “It’s All Good.” Cecil has also been involved in producing CD’s for the Uptown String Quartet – “Max Roach Presents the Uptown String Quartet”, “Just Wait A Minute”, Michael Carvin, Cecil Bridgewater.
In 2003-04, he served as musical director for a series of concerts at the University of Illinois called “Jazz Threads” which included concerts, lectures and demonstrations at various venues thru out the Champaign/Urbana, Illinois area. He brought in guests such as; Clark Terry, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kenny Davis, Mulgrew Miller, Carl Allen and Ron Bridgewater to perform in settings from quintet to symphonic orchestra and jazz band. For each of these occasions, Cecil provided compositions and arrangements for the various artist.
Cecil has contributed arrangements to two of Dee Dee Bridgewater’s CD’s – “Dear Ella” dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald, which won a Grammy and “This Is New” the music of Kurt Weill.