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Introducing Trumpeter Skylar Tang

Courtesy Todd Rosenberg

By Sanford Josephson
February 6, 2025
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Skylar's potential is truly limitless, and I hope she gets every opportunity to bring her music to the world.
—Tatum Greenblatt

This article first appeared in Jersey Jazz Magazine.

"Every now and then," said trumpeter

Sean Jones

trumpet
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Sean Jones, "a musician comes along who has a vision and focus that you just know will affect the world—a sense of high artistry, skill, and profound leadership.

" data-original-title="" title="">Skylar Tang is one of the ones in her generation who fits this description."

Jones is Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall's NYO Jazz, a musical ensemble that invites 22 high school students from across the country each summer to be part of a residency, studying with world-class jazz musicians on the campus of Purchase College in Purchase, NY, performing a concert at Carnegie Hall with a celebrated guest artist, and embarking on a tour.

Trumpeter Skylar Tang, who will turn 19 this month, was invited to be part of NYO Jazz three years in a row—from 2022 to 2024. Tang, who grew up in the San Francisco area, began playing classical piano at an early age. She was exposed to jazz by listening to her father's albums, such as

Antonio Carlos Jobim

piano
1927 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Antonio Carlos Jobim's Live at Minas (DRG Records: 2007),

Joshua Redman

saxophone
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Joshua Redman's Mood Swing (Warner Bros: 1994). and several

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans recordings. "When I was about nine," she recalled, "my dad encouraged me to learn things by ear." That's when she switched from piano to trumpet.

"I attended the Stanford Jazz Workshop the summer before middle school," she said. "I played in a big band and in a combo. Ever since then, I've been playing jazz." Tang also began studying and playing at the SF JAZZ Center, an organization that provides jazz education and training to students across the Bay Area. "In high school, I played with SF JAZZ's Jazz All-Stars," she said. "It was a great program."

According to Rebeca Mauleon, SF Jazz Director of Education & Community Engagement, "We had no doubt as to Skylar's promise and potential the moment we heard her when she was still a middle-schooler! She embodies the true nature of a complete musician. She is endlessly curious, deeply committed, fierce in her advocacy and love for the music and for her fellow musicians; and is always striving to improve her skills and understanding."

Paul Contos

flute

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Contos, Conductor of the SF JAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band, recalled that, "We selected Skylar into the band as an eighth grader—a very rare occurrence in SF Jazz All-Stars history. Even as an eighth grader, Skylar already possessed a command of the jazz language, a prodigious jazz technique, an extraordinary verve for the music, and a creative passion and resolve for generating exciting and meaningful works far into the future."

In April 2022, Tang won the Dr. J. Douglas White Composition and Arranging award at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington competition. Her composition, "Kaleidoscope" was performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and she received a $1,000 cash prize and a public composition and arranging lesson with JALC saxophonist

Ted Nash

saxophone
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Ted Nash.

Two months later, playing with the SF JAZZ High School All-Stars, Tang soloed alongside

Wynton Marsalis

trumpet
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Wynton Marsalis at the SF JAZZ gala. It was part of a performance of "Back to Basics" from Marsalis' 1997 Pulitzer-winning jazz oratorio "Blood on the Fields."

In January 2024, several of the SF JAZZ students were in New Orleans for the Jazz Education Network Conference, and, according to Mauleon, "

Terence Blanchard

trumpet
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Terence Blanchard (SF JAZZ's new Executive Artistic Director) "hosted a gathering at his home, and our students played with him." Marsalis and Blanchard, Tang said, "are two of my musical heroes. Getting to meet them and play with them was a dream come true!"

NYO, Tang recalled, "was super exciting for me. I'd never been in a musical setting as intense as this was. Every day, it was like seven hours. It was the first time I delved into the repertoire of a particular set so deeply. Sean Jones helped me so much. His wisdom and expertise, the thought and care he puts into this band is extraordinary. I learned so much from him." In 2022, the NYO Jazz ensemble toured several U.S. cities; in 2023 the group toured Europe; and last summer the band performed in several locations throughout South Africa.

Last fall, Tang joined two of her fellow NYO Jazz members—drummer

Benjamin Schwartz

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Benjamin Schwartz from Maplewood, NJ, and bassist Ruby Farmer from Brooklyn—as freshmen at Columbia University. "I knew I wanted to be in New York for college," she said. "I had my mind set on New York for a long time. I went to a really academically rigorous high school (Crystal Springs Upland School in Hillsborough, CA). Although music is first and foremost in my life, I felt there was so much to learn. So, I really wanted to go to a university, not a music conservatory. That really narrowed it down, so I applied early decision to Columbia."

Every day in New York, Tang said, "is an adventure! One time, I got to sit in with (saxophonist) Joshua Redman at Lincoln Center. He's one of those guys I've been listening to since I was four years old. I'm a huge fan of his work. That was like a highlight of the semester."

Columbia has an exchange program with Juilliard, so Tang is currently studying with trumpeter

Tatum Greenblatt

trumpet
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Tatum Greenblatt at the Juilliard Conservatory. Greenblatt said Tang "has one of the most highly developed musical minds of anyone I've seen at her age. I first became aware of her playing as the tape judge for Carnegie Hall's NYO Jazz program. Even as a sophomore in high school, her playing displayed the harmonic and melodic maturity of a fully developed artist. The following year, I heard her play at the Charles Mingus High School competition, leading a combo for which she had arranged all of the music. I was floored by her writing—the creativity and sophistication of her pen was so far beyond what anyone would expect of even an advanced high school student. Skylar's potential is truly limitless, and I hope she gets every opportunity to bring her music to the world."

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