Joel Gray

Joel Gray has spent 25 years as a freelance trumpet player and music educator in Edmonton and its surrounding areas. Joel attended the music programs at MacEwan University and the University of Alberta, studying trumpet with William Dimmer of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Dr. Fordyce Pier.

Joel is known for his versatility as a trumpeter. He is as comfortable playing lead trumpet with the pops orchestra as traditional New Orleans music or baroque piccolo trumpet. He is a regular performer with many local artists and diverse musical ensembles, including the the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, The Edmonton Jazz Orchestra, Edmonton Opera, Pro Coro Canada, the Don Berner Sextet, the Retrofitz, the Polyjesters, the Tommy Banks Big Band, The New Orleans Connection, and Capital Brass, to name only a few. He is a veteran in the orchestra pit, having performed many professional musical theatre productions, including the National Broadway Tours of Wicked, Marry Poppins, A Chorus Line, Billy Elliot, as well as local professional productions presented at the Citadel Theatre.

Joel has graced the stage alongside such greats as Tommy Banks, P.J. Perry, Slide Hampton, Arnie Chycowski, Guido Basso, Allen Vizzutti, Chris Andrew, Lew Tebackin, Jens Lindemann, Gino Vannelli, The Temptations, Hugh Fraser, and Blackjax. He has recorded on over 30 CDs and performed numerous times for CBC radio, and played principal trumpet with the ESO in Carnegie Hall in May of 2012.

As a music educator, Joel teaches trumpet and jazz improvisation at MacEwan University and has taught at Augustana University and Keyano College. He is an instructor at MusiCamp Alberta since 2000 and has adjudicated for the Rocky Mountain Music Festival, the Foothills Jazz Festival, the for the Kiwanis Music Festival. Since 2004, he is the director of the Edmonton All-Star Jazz Band, “The Littlebirds.” Joel Gray is a Yamaha Artist and performs on Yamaha Xeno Trumpets.