KU News Release

KU junior selected as lead trumpet for Grammy-winning orchestra

LAWRENCE — Daniel O’Brien, Junction City junior in the School of Fine Arts at the University of Kansas, was recently selected as lead trumpet for the Grammy-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra, one of the hottest jazz big bands in the world.

O’Brien is a student of Steve Leisring, assistant professor of trumpet in KU’s Department of Music and Dance. He is the son of Sally Jardine and Tom O’Brien, both of Junction City, and is a Junction City Senior High School graduate.

Schneider was impressed by O’Brien when she heard him play when she came to KU as a visiting artist a few years ago as a guest of Dan Gailey, associate professor and director of jazz studies at KU.

The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra debuted in 1993, appearing at Visiones in Greenwich Village every Monday night for five years. Subsequently, Schneider’s orchestra received invitations to perform at many jazz festivals and concert halls across Europe, as well as in Brazil and Macau. She’s received numerous commissions and invites for guest conducting her music with American and European orchestras. “Concert in the Garden,” released only through mariaschneider.com (an ArtistShare site), won a 2005 Grammy Award and became the first Grammy-winning recording with Internet-only sales. Her first three recordings were also nominated for Grammys. Her third album, “Allégresse,” was chosen by Time and Billboard magazines in their Top Ten Recordings of 2000, which was inclusive of all genres of music. It received Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Awards and the Downbeat Critics Poll. Both also awarded Schneider Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year, and the Jazz Journalists also named her group Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year.

O’Brien just returned from a performance with the orchestra in Brazil and will head to New York in early November to play at the Jazz Standard. He will then perform in concerts in Vienna, Paris, Barcelona, Basel, Lisbon and Luxembourg in December.

“This is a wonderful professional opportunity for Daniel,” said Larry Mallett, chair of the Department of Music and Dance. “In addition to recognizing his outstanding talent, it is further evidence of the exceptional instruction of trumpet professor Steve Leisring and jazz studies director Dan Gailey, and of the value of bringing world-class performers to our campus to work with our students.”

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