John Castleman

I got started in music when my Dad was a band director. He used to have jam sessions at our house when I was a pre-schooler. I would awake to sounds of jazz and run downstairs and dance when I heard the music. I never realized music actually had words to it until I was older. Everything was supposed to sound like Charlie Parker, or so I thought. He would even let me have the baton on his pit-orchestra gigs. I am sure the orchestra loved that one. We had lots of instruments lying around the house. Dad repaired them too, in the basement so I got into tearing them apart too and later putting them back together again. I learned that a bag of sugar goes down your older brother's sousaphone quite well. Getting it out is another story. School was great. Academically, I did the bear minimum I could possibly do to get by unless it was music. When I caught the music bug in the 8th grade all I did was practice and try to play in any ensemble that would let me. When I got braces, I picked up the saxophone because the trumpet hurt to practice all of the time. When I got home from school, I would start on trumpet and alternate horns about every half hour until it was time for dinner or bed. My Dad would give me some pocket money every time I went to get a trumpet lesson and he told me to go the record store and buy some records. What a cool Dad!!!!! He just let me explore and gravitate toward the sounds that I wanted to. When I found Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" I was really hooked then. My first pro gig was a cruise ship. That was a great job because I use to watch all the whales swimming and doing their thing up in Alaska while I practiced all day in front of this huge plate glass window at the back of the ship. A truly beautiful place. After my undergraduate school, I went to work for the Disney company and played for 10 years in this band called "Future Corps." The band does not exist anymore except in cyberspace. What a cool job. Really great musicians and people. I was really lucky to have that job. While I was at Disney, I got the INCREDIBLE opportunity to play in Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra for 10 years. We played New York, Portugal and a bunch of other really great places as well as recorded a cd. Watching and learning from Sam was such a heart moving experience that the space here could not contain all of my thoughts and emotions about that experience. I also did some other shows while I was there and I will include them because they were meaningful to me: Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Gregg Karoukas, Tito Puente Jr. , Harry James Orchestra, Charlie Spivak Orchestra, Benny Goodman Orchestra, Clarence Clemmons. Telemundo television: Tony Vega. I decided to leave Disney for a career in the military band program which at present has enabled me to be the lead trumpet player in the Jazz Knights located at West Point Military Academy. It has been great and I have enjoyed the stability and security that the military provides. I am still doing work outside of the military in the same vein that I did when I was at Disney. The Temptations come to town........you get the idea. It is also nice to have a music day job that supports my jazz habit. I have also been able to complete most of my Master's degree in Theory/Composition at the Government's expense. Wow, what an honor and opportunity. My final project was a choir and orchestra 2 movement work based on the text of Maya Angelou's poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Where I go from here, only God knows for sure. All I know is that it has been a great ride so far.