James Gardener

Born in Southampton, James began playing music at the age of seven, learning Tenor Horn. At age nine he switched to Trumpet, as his primary school music teacher sagely advised him 'you'll get more gigs on Trumpet.'  

James spent his school and college years playing in various community Brass Bands, pit bands, jazz ensembles, and the Southampton Youth Jazz Orchestra, as well as achieving Grade 8 on Bb Trumpet and taking piano lessons. A-Levels were clearly secondary...

James graduated from the prestigious Jazz course at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2021 with BMus (Hons) in Performance. He is now based in Southampton, where he works as a freelance trumpet player and performs in various function and tribute bands, as well as pursuing his own projects. He is also an avid teacher, working with the Southampton Music Hub and the University of Winchester to direct various youth ensembles in rehearsal and performances, as well as tutoring privately in brass performance and music theory. 

Throughout and after his time at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, James has had the privilege of studying with world class musicians such as Percy Pursglove, John O'Gallagher, Steven Fishwick, Byron Wallen, Arnie Somogyi and Andrew Bain. He has also received coaching from the likes of Julian Argüelles, Soweto Kinch, Julian Joseph, Jason Rebello and Michael Gibbs. 

James has had extensive performance experience, playing such venues as the Cheltenham Jazz Festival with John Surman, the Eastside Jazz Club with Soweto Kinch, and has played a support slot at the Southbank Centre for the Jazz Warriors and Omar Lye-Fook, as well as supporting Adrian Utley of Portishead with his trio project Abyssal Trio at The MAC Birmingham. He has also performed at the Isle Of Wight Festival with Chic To Chic and Tuba Libres, Rockstock Festival, The Theatre Royal Winchester, and is a regular sight on Sky Sports playing prematch performances for AFC Bournemouth and Saints FC. 

His major musical influences include Kenny Wheeler, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Hargrove, Avishai Cohen, Bill Frisell, Woody Shaw, Peter Evans, Tim Garland, Brad Meldhau, and Radiohead.