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 Featured Big
Band
Rob Parton's ROPA Big Band
Rob Parton is considered to be one of the most active and versatile trumpet players in
Chicago. He is well known as a performer, big band leader, and educator. As a freelance
trumpet player, Parton has performed with the Chicago Symphony, recorded with the
Milwaukee Symphony, and as lead trumpet with many shows including Mel Tormé,
Maureen McGovern, Doc Severinson, Dionne Warwick, Tony Bennett, Maynard Ferguson, Natalie Cole and many more. Parton has recorded many commercial jingles
for Ameritech, McDonald's, Ford CitiBank VISA, to name a few. He has also toured
Europe backing Joe Williams and playing various jazz concerts.
Rob Parton was appointed Chairman of the Jazz Department at CMC in 1994. As leader
of this thriving jazz program, his duties include teaching jazz and classical trumpet, as
well as directing the Jazz Ensemble, teaching combos, and being newly appointed
director of large ensembles.
Rob Parton's ROPA Big Band most recently finished mixing his newest CD
featuring nine of Chicago's finest studio musicians. This group, The Rob Parton
Nonet, has played various Jazz festivals and will begin playing on a regular basis sometime in
the near future. The latest ROPA recording, "Fascinatin' Rhythm!" features,
amongst all of the regular musicians, trumpeter extraordinaire Vincent DiMartino. This
highly energetic album has received many acclamations from various recording industry
trade magazines. These two releases are on Rob's ROPA Jazz label.
The third CD entitled, "What Are We Here For?" is on the Sea Breeze Jazz Label. This
CD is titled after Duke Ellington's What Am I Here For as featured on the CD. Rob
received a four-star review from the acclaimed DownBeat Jazz magazine for his CD The
Count Is In on the Sea Breeze Jazz label as well. This is his second release on that label,
the first being Rob Parton's ROPA Big Band with Conte Candoli. The band also
performs regularly at jazz festivals, working with young aspiring jazz musicians to
promote jazz education. ROPA has been invited to perform at several jazz festivals
in Europe including the world renowned Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Rob Parton is a clinician for United Musical Instruments (Benge) and is very active as a
clinician, performer, and adjudicator. Currently Rob is working with UMI in the design
of the new CONN "Vintage One" trumpet.
For more information about Rob Parton visit his web site:
http://faculty.roosevelt.edu/Parton/
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