NOJO at VeszpremFest 2015
Photo by Peter Fulop Photography
New Orleans Jazz Market
Photo by Erika Goldring for nola.com
JazzFest 2014
Photo by Demian Roberts
Trumpet Mafia at JazzFest 2015
Photo by Stephen Maloney
New Orleans Jazz Market
Photo by Peter Vanderwarker
A versatile jazz trumpeter based in New Orleans, Ashlin Parker is sought after for big band, small ensemble, and solo performances. In the past two years, he has played with various ensembles at international festivals and clubs in Germany, Russia, India, Switzerland, Brazil, Wales, England, Barbados, Bermuda, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Hungary, Finland, and Norway. Ashlin leads the Trumpet Mafia and plays with numerous diverse ensembles, such as Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Bill Summers and Jazalsa, The Next Generation Big Band, The Original Hurricane Brass Band, Vivaz! and the Moscow-New Orleans Project. Ashlin has played with musicians such as Ellis Marsalis, Jason Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Roland Guerin, Leroy Jones, Derek Douget, Adonis Rose, Nicholas Payton, Dmitry Mospan, Vadim Eilenkrig, Igor Butman, as well as vocalists Anthony Hamilton, Aretha Franklin, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Ashlin’s most recent CDs, with the Ellis Marsalis Sextet, were recorded live at New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2014 and 2015. He shared in the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble for the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s debut album, entitled Book One. The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra's next album, Dee Dee’s Feathers, was recorded with Dee Dee Bridgewater and is scheduled for its U.S. release in August 2015. Ashlin has been leading the jazz trumpet studio in the Music Department at the University of New Orleans since January 2011. Biography
Photograph by Phillip Sherman for Newport Daily News
Ellis Marsalis and Ashlin Parker
Ashlin has been playing with pianist and Jazz Master, Ellis Marsalis, in a variety of settings during the past three years, ranging from the famous club in New Orleans - Snug Harbor, to jazz festivals in New Orleans and Bermuda, to Marshall University, and to Dizzy’s in New York City.
WWOZ Fund Drive 2014
From its organic beginnings in the summer of 2013 as a group of New Orleans trumpeters getting together at Ashlin’s apartment and courtyard to share practice techniques and support each other’s continued growth, the Trumpet Mafia has become a band of uncommon creative excellence and unexpected arrangements that mix traditional jazz and hip hop styles.
Stephen Maloney of Offbeat Magazine overheard some of the outdoor practice sessions in Ashlin’s courtyard and began writing about them as well as recording some of those sessions that began turning into rehearsals. His article, “Trumpet Mafia Takes Over,” traces their early and ongoing development.