By Alicia Kelso

Few people master the trumpet like Byron Stripling. The Westerville resident and artistic director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra has a prolific musical repertoire, one that has earned him invitations to perform around the world.

Stripling has soloed with the Boston Pops, the Seattle Symphony, The American Jazz Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony and more. He has also performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. As far as stage and screen performances go, he starred in the Broadway musical Satchmo and the 42nd Street production of From Second Avenue to Broadway.

But Stripling’s resume doesn’t compare to his performance moxie. Known for intensity and comedic timing, Stripling isn’t afraid to improvise, to get his audience involved and to do everything he can to ensure they buy tickets.

“Being the conductor means you need to keep your audience engaged or they’re not going to come back. We are improvising up there. The audience becomes a part of that and can influence the outcome with their enthusiasm,” Stripling says. “We’ve had audience participation, movies, lights, sound, we’ve even had a clown join us on stage. It might have turned people off at first, but then they realize something so unexpected is fun and actually works.”

He learned this spirited approach as lead trumpeter and soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra, as well as by playing with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Lincoln Center Classical Jazz Orchestra and the GRP All Star Big Band.

After spending much of his career anchored in New York City, Stripling is now Central Ohio’s to treasure: he moved to Westerville in 2002 with wife Alexis and their two daughters.

“I lived in New York for about 15 years before coming here. I first came as a soloist for the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the first and only art director at the organization decided to retire, so I applied,” Stripling says. “I felt support for the arts in NYC was going down and there were fewer concerts being performed. But when I came to Columbus, I found a band that was actually thriving and had tremendous support from the community. It was so overwhelming I wanted to be a part of it. So I applied and got it and moved. That was after, of course, my wife approved.”

Stripling spent the first two years splitting his time between Columbus and New York. But he gradually began to accept Central Ohio as his permanent home.

“I started to realize more and more that this isn’t a bad community. It’s actually kind of cool here. We could have a life here. We liked a lot of areas and looked everywhere and finally decided to move to Westerville,” Stripling says. “It was a quaint but vibrant town and we loved it.”

Stripling has always been a free spirit. He’s originally from Atlanta, but doesn’t call it his hometown because he moved often as a kid. He lived in Kentucky, Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis and Texas, following his musician father around in support of his career.

Although Stripling has the musical pedigree, he doesn’t believe that is why he’s earned such success in the field.

“People think it’s a natural talent and I think that is an overrated way of thinking,” he says. “It takes a tremendous amount of work to make me a good player. My father was a great classical singer, but he also told me if I wanted to do this, I would have to work my butt off. I’ve taken his advice.”

It’s no surprise Stripling was very young when he learned how to play: music was always playing in the background at home. When it came time for him to pick an instrument, he naturally gravitated toward the trumpet.

“My ears and thoughts always just went back to the trumpet. It was what I always listened to and what I knew,” Stripling says. “I was always listening to my idols, who are the usuals – Dizzy (Gillespie), Louie (Armstrong) and Miles (Davis).”

He’s taken that influence and dexterity and translated it onto the Southern Theatre stage for CJO’s Swingin’ at the Southern and Great American Songbook series. Stripling and the CJO will take center stage at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for the annual JazZoo summer series, and they will also play a handful of performances at the recently renovated Lincoln Theatre.

Stripling still frequently travels to play and conducts seminars at universities. However, he says CJO is his bread and butter, and he maintains lofty goals for the organization.

“I want to get as many opportunities to share with the world how great this band is. That means playing Carnegie Hall. That means playing in Los Angeles. I guarantee wherever we go, people will be blown away,” he says. “I would like people to realize that a jazz organization has the power to move and influence their lives – singing and playing music brings happiness to everyone. That is pretty special and I intend to keep on doing it for as long as I can.”

Alicia Kelso is editor of Westerville Magazine.


For more information on CJO performances, JazZoo appearances and more, visit www.jazzartsgroup.org.