Rob Parton Bio

Rob Parton, one of Chicago’s busiest and versatile trumpet players, is well known and highly regarded as a studio/theatre/jazz musician, performer-educator and band-leader.

As a jazz musician, Parton has been performing five nights a week for the past four years as featured artist at Chicago's Catch 35. The list of musicians who have played in the Rob Parton Trio is like a who's who in Chicago Jazz. Parton performs weekly from Tuesday through Saturday.

As a studio musician, Parton has played on hundreds of both local and national radio and television commercials and many local CD projects not only as lead trumpet but as contractor. Parton has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, Doc Severinson, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mel Torme, Beach Boys, Christopher Cross, Sheena Easton, Peabo Bryson, Celine Dion, Nick Carter, Yolanda Adams, Josh Groban, Enrique Eglasius, Natalie Cole and Maynard Ferguson to name only a few.  Parton has traveled with Natalie Cole and most recently been a featured member of the Music Now series offered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

As a theatre musician, Parton has played the national tours and local productions of Wicked, Full Monty, Sweet Charity, Music Man, Legally Blonde, Disney’s High School Musical, Color Purple, Young Frankenstein, and In the Heights.

As an educator, Parton is Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. His duties include teaching trumpet, directing the award winning CCPA Jazz Ensembles, teaching Jazz Pedagogy, Jazz Conducting, and Music Business. The CCPA Jazz program has released three compact discs featuring the Jazz ensemble and vocal jazz groups. All of the CD’s have been well received both nationally and internationally in the jazz education world. When Parton is not working in Chicago you will often find him directing an All-State jazz band or acting as a guest artist with many high school and college jazz programs. He has presented concerts or clinics at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, International Association of Jazz educators convention, MENC and many other music educators conventions.

Rob Parton is well known nationally and internationally for the JAZZTECH Big Band and its seven critically acclaimed compact discs’ on the Sea Breeze Jazz label. Most recently Parton disbanded the JAZZTECH Big Band and has now started a new band called the Rob Parton Big Band.  The concept of this band is to mirror that of the European Radio Orchestras where new music is the focus rather than that of the repertory bands which are so popular in the U.S.

Rob Parton plays a YAMAHA prototype Bb trumpet developed by Wayne Tanabe and Bob Malone.  Rob also works closely with instrument designer Fred Powell who built his custom flugelhorn.