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Take Five with Trumpeter Gregory Haubrich of Butter And The Genre

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By AAJ Staff
July 21, 2025
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Meet Gregory "Butter" Haubrich

Gregory "Butter" Haubrich is a lifelong musician, songwriter and arranger whose sound bridges the soulful roots of jazz with accessible melodies and spontaneous storytelling. A trumpet player with a deep emotional range and a background that includes keys, harmonica and vocals, Butter brings both grit and grace to every performance. From rural Minnesota to the U.S. Navy School of Music, his journey has always revolved around creating music that moves people, whether on stage or through the speakers. Butter is the founder and creative force behind Butter and the Genre, a dynamic jazz ensemble based in Oklahoma City. The band delivers high-energy live shows and timeless recordings that resonate with longtime jazz fans and newcomers alike. Known for their musical chemistry and genre-blending arrangements, the group includes some of the finest young musicians in the region, creating a multigenerational sound that's rich in soul, funk and lyrical depth. Whether in the courtroom as a trial lawyer or on stage as a bandleader, Butter lives by one mantra: Peace on. Music Is Life.

Instruments

I play trumpet, keys, harmonica, vocals and tambourine.

Teachers and/or influences?

My high school band director, Larry Bratland, was a jazz guy. Small town rural Minnesota. When I graduated from high school, he told me I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to do, but playing trumpet was what I did best. Then when I was a teenager Dorothy Lutz came to town, a classical concert pianist with two Steinways instead of a dining table in the living room. Dorothy taught me how to make music move and express.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...

I got to be a US Navy musician sort of by accident. Their School of Music was great, although I'm not sure I appreciated it at the time. When I got out of the service (conscientious objector, Vietnam War) I had decided to be a professional musician. I didn't do that, but when I was 20 that's all I wanted to do.

Your sound and approach to music:

I like to create something that sounds like something you heard before, but has a new hook, a new twist, that makes it new and different. I think of myself more as a songwriter and arranger than as a "composer." I write lyrics to fit the music, and music to fit the lyrics. My band and music are designed to create jazz that is accessible and listenable to people who aren't jazz aficionados or don't describe themselves as jazz fans as well as to sophisticated students and lovers of jazz.

Your teaching approach:

I don't teach. So, I guess I have neither a philosophy nor an ideology about how to teach music. I do think that putting kids in front of a keyboard and just encouraging them to play whatever they want is a great way to get them started.

Your dream band:

I have my dream band. The band I have right now is not the one I dreamed, but it is an awesome band that fits together and is outstanding both in the studio and in live performance. I would love to work with Stephen Stills or any of the CSN&Y group on songwriting.

Max Roach

drums
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Max Roach. If I could play in a famous big band, I think it would be

Benny Carter

saxophone, alto
1907 - 2003

" data-original-title="" title="">Benny Carter.

Carlos Santana

guitar
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Carlos Santana, I'd love to play trumpet and/or organ with that dude.

Road story: Your best or worst experience:

In 1975 I took my horn with me and spent the summer in India. I hooked up with a band called the Avengers, Anglo-Indian guys in Madras (now Chennai) in south India. We played as a combo in a 5-star hotel five nights a week and on weekends played shows with a bigger band. They listened to BBC so we knew a lot of the same music. Senjin, the leader, had gone to Singapore and gotten an early model Yamaha digital synthesizer. I taught them the first movement of "Chameleon" by

Herbie Hancock

piano
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Herbie Hancock. The last night I was in India we played a show in a big ballroom. Anglo-Indians can ballroom dance like crazy—jitterbug, jive, two-step, waltz, whatever. I played the synth and the whole huge crowd stopped dancing and just came to the stage and started dancing a whole different kind of dance ... all funky and they were just amazed at this brand new sound. That was a happy trip.

Favorite venue:

51st St. Speakeasy, Oklahoma City. We have the baddest jazz night/jazz jam, every Wednesday and I get to play with some of the finest jazz musicians you can imagine. Playing with great musicians. In Oklahoma, Wednesday is "Church night." Every Wednesday I go to "Church Night" at the Speak (my own term for it) and we get down.

Your favorite album in your record collection and why?

I have two number 1s: Moonflower by Santana, and Kind of Blue by

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis. Moonflower because it has this great combination of studio and live recording, the lyric beauty of Santana's playing, the driving intensity of his band's percussionists... Kind of Blue because after listening to it late one night when I was about 45, the next morning I was jogging and I was stoned and "All Blues" was goin' through my head. I had a conversation with myself about why I hadn't been playing my horn, my greatest gift, for over 20 years. That weekend I went to Dallas, bought a new horn (a Benge), and have never stopped playing since.

The first Jazz album I bought was:

I have no idea what was the first jazz album I ever bought. The first album I bought that impacted my view of music was The Turning Point by

John Mayall

harmonica
1933 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">John Mayall, an acoustic blues album that I still really enjoy. The first jazz I remember listening to was my parents' Time-Life collection of Big Band music, which I still have and sometimes play on my stereo.

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?

I'm not a virtuoso trumpeter, singer, or pianist. I'm just okay at bebop, and my sight-reading is kind of mediocre. However, I can write melodies spontaneously that flow and sing, and I can put lyrics with music and put music with words. As a trumpet player, I have exceptional tone and dynamics, and the ability to create and improvise spontaneously and emotively. What my band contributes is expressing the joy of music, the simultaneous, instantaneous expression of people talking all at once in harmony. We have a great sound, timbre, and cohesiveness that makes us just a blast of fun to play together and or listen to.

Did you know...

I'm also a trial lawyer. I've tried over a hundred jury cases representing injured people. Over the years, I've had people who knew me through music come up and say, "I heard you're a lawyer... You don't act like a lawyer," and they may have known me from hearing me play in a blues band or something like that. I'm not sure how lawyers are supposed to act, but I guess they meant it as a compliment because I don't act like I'm better just because I have a law degree.

CDs you are listening to now:

Sorry, but there's just no telling. Now that we have Spotify and such, I tend to let the streaming services find me new music. I like new age, soul, r&b, classical, funk as well as all kinds of jazz.

Desert Island picks:

I would get so bored. I have to listen to something new, learn something new. But okay:

Either Brahms's 1st or Shastakovich's 5th Symphony. Probably the Shastakovich.
Moonflower by Santana, Coumbia, 1977
Frankie Beverly and Maze—Golden Time of Day, Capitol, 1978
Joe Sample, Carmel, ABC Records, 1979
Tower of Power Direct, Sheffield Lab, 1981

How would you describe the state of jazz today?

Jazz is all of a sudden brand new and thriving. Young people are playing it, listening to it, digging it, creating it. All the music forms we have are becoming more explorational, drawing on and from each other... Streaming services and social media let us listen to and learn from musicians all over the world, and jazz is infusing and being infused by music and musical languages and forms from all over the world. So, yah. Bring it.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?

Music education. Playing music is the only activity we do in which it is proven by EEG that we use every part of our brain simultaneously. It is also well proven that children who learn and play musical instruments get better grades, function better in school, and are more likely to be psychologically balanced and successful as adults. I didn't get a "jazz" education. I got the fundamentals of music on trumpet and piano, and discovered when I was a teenager that I could just stand up and blow a solo that made sense, and was blessed with a band director who encouraged and gave me the freedom to do that. Public schools here in Oklahoma, and most of our country, put more into sports than into our kids' cultural education, which should include a healthy dose of listening to and playing music for those who wish to do so. If kids can play, they'll discover the music they want and for a lot of them it will be jazz.

What is in the near future?

Right now, I'm working on a video for our second single release, "So Cool, So Blue." It's a beautiful, haunting ballad. Recently, when we performed it live one of Calliope's (our vocalist) friends asked her afterwards what was "that beautiful standard?" My friend Chase produces music videos and has a terrific and very dramatic story concept that is blowing me away the more I think about it.

What's your greatest fear when you perform?

Getting lost, or forgetting a chord or something that is essential to the performance.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

Weirdly, I never thought about that before. The first thing that comes to mind is John Prine: "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Any More."

What is your favorite song to whistle or sing in the shower?

Lately it's been "Harlem Nocturne."

By Day:

Today I put on a suit, dress shirt, dress shoes, and a tie, and went to the Oklahoma County Courthouse to represent a client in a Pre-Trial Conference, where we meet with the judge to set the time and parameters of an upcoming jury trial. After I finish this written interview, I'm going to review some medical records on a client who was injured in a fall in a clothing store. That kinda stuff. I represent injured people against corporations and insurance companies, and have done so professionally for 39 years as of 2025.

If I weren't a jazz musician, I would be a:

I'd still be a trial lawyer. In some ways, it's very similar. One reason I'm comfortable in the courtroom is I've always been comfortable and happy being up front and out-front performing. Another critical shared feature of jazz and law is the incredible commitment to integrity and truth. Jazz is freedom. Jazz is truth.

If I could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and why?

Gawd, I'm a history dude. My minor in college was history, my library is mostly history, and I read history for fun and listen to history on podcasts all the time. I'm gonna pick Adolf Hitler. I mean, if you get to pick one person to interview and find out how and why they were motivated to do what they did, and motivate others to do their evil for them... it's one of humanity's great mysteries, right?

If I could go back in time and relive an experience, what would it be?

That first trip to India was really good. I was a 23 year old hippie and spent the whole summer there, traveled north to south, Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, made great friends, lived on almost no money, played in a great combo in a 5-star hotel—irony, great steaks there, as in great—eyes wide open. I got seduced by a beautiful Eurasian brown-skinned girl and made my fatal mistake (check the song "World of Joy and Pain" which is on the album). And, I was treated like some kind of American music star, which was also fun. I've written the story, be happy to share.

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