Alex Nguyen is a trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and curator based in New York City. He plays with a warm, lyrical tone, a strong sense of melody, and expressive phrasing that gives his playing real emotional depth.
He leads his own group in jazz clubs, festivals, and community events, and plays as a sideman with a wide range of other artists. As a church music director, he has also made jazz in sacred music a particular specialty, from vespers and services to concert programs in sacred spaces across the city.
He has also presented concerts in city parks, museums, and a church crypt. Drawing on his roots as the child of Vietnamese refugees, he has explored the music of that heritage, curating Music of the Vietnamese Diaspora as part of Carnegie Hall’s Migrations: The Making of America festival.
He first became known in New York for a recurring residency at Iridium with the Jazz Conceptions Orchestra, a nine-piece band he co-founded with fellow University of North Florida alumni. He has performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia, played New York rooms like Birdland, Kitano, Mezzrow, and Lincoln Center, and shared the stage with Harold Mabern, Vincent Herring, Jimmy Cobb, Doug Carn and Curtis Fuller. His earlier recognition includes Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and prizes at the International Trumpet Guild and National Trumpet competitions.
He has recorded widely as a player, from large ensembles and small groups to singer-songwriter projects. As a composer and arranger, his work has been recorded by NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron and performed by ensembles, universities, and sacred institutions, and his writing ranges from big band to choral music.
Alex began playing in Savannah, Georgia, where he attended the Savannah Arts Academy and studied with trombonist Teddy Adams, and he still returns from time to time to perform. He went on to the University of North Florida’s jazz program under alto saxophonist Bunky Green, and earned a master’s in Jazz Studies from SUNY Purchase, where he studied with trumpeters Jon Faddis and Jim Rotondi.
“Alex Nguyen’s solo is achingly beautiful.
He conjures up the essence of Miles Davis’s message with space, depth, and sensitivity.”
“Soloists who caught my ear included… Alex Nguyen whose muted trumpet
was featured all the way on a deliciously slow-cooked version of “Mean to Me.”
“Nguyen exhibits amazing control of the trumpet, harnessing the horn’s power with an astounding expressiveness that seems as if each breath carries with it a specific emotional message.”
“The First Year,” a gentle bossa nova by Alex Nguyen, a student whom Barron recently met at a Washington, D.C., performance, was another high point. The piece was simply written but meaty.”