Emerging Artist Series: Alex Price

Kaili Otsuka-vocals, Katelyn Vincent-vocals, Alex Price-trumpet/compositions, Chaz Martineau-tenor saxophone, Benjamin Cortez-piano/vocals, Jude Poorten-guitar, Vincent Thiefain-upright bass, Sam Russo-drums

Alex Price is a jazz musician and Downbeat award-winning composer from the Los Angeles area, currently living in Tempe, Arizona. Alex has performed/shared the stage with numerous artists as a trumpet player, including Lewis Nash, Michael Kocour, Wayne Bergeron, Conrad Herwig, Michelle Coltrane, Joel Frahm, Sean Jones, Jason Palmer and Harold Maybern. In the past, he has performed with the Young Sounds of Arizona as the solo trumpet chair and was a member of the AMEA All-State Jazz Band from 2012-2015. He is a recent graduate of Arizona State University receiving Bachelors of Arts in Music Performance (Jazz) and English (Literature). Alex has performed in the ASU Concert Jazz Band led by Michael Kocour, and in various ASU small jazz ensembles led by Michael Kocour and Lewis Nash. Alex had the opportunity to study with Michael Kocour, Lewis Nash, Dennis Monce and Dr. Christopher Norby in his time at Arizona State. Alex also works with the Nash as an Education Intern, performing in the monthly Hot Dogs and Jazz show as well as performing outreach shows to schools in the Phoenix area. In addition, Alex had the privilege to play the main stage at the 2017 Chandler Jazz Festival and has played at the Highland Jazz Festival from 2016-2019. As for composition, Alex will be included in the 2019 June issue of DownBeat magazine, having won an Outstanding Composition Student Music Award for his 2019 piece for jazz sextet, entitled Journey.

Alex is currently working towards the release of his first full-length album, Life Story, a project that combines both sound and language, exploring the link between narrative and music utilizing eight original pieces of music, lyrics, thematic writing, extra-musical audio and accompanying narratives to tell an original story within its sonic landscape. The project was born out of a desire to find the storytelling power of music, exploring everything from programmatic music to film scores to how we perceive the concept of narrative as important in our own lives. What kind of story does music tell? Does music mean anything at all? Should it mean anything? These are all questions that this project attempts to answer. Life Story is written for jazz sextet and multiple voices and will be released on various streaming services and on disk in late summer 2019.