Dontae Winslow – Trumpet Interview
Welcome to the show notes for Episode #69 of The Other Side of the Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features trumpeter Dontae Winslow.
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About Dontae Winslow
Dontae Winslow is one of the most versatile in-demand trumpeter/arranger/composers on the Hollywood music scene. His trumpet/arranging/songwriting can be heard on classics such as Kanye West’s grammy winning “We Major” from the multi-platinum Late Registration, Jayz’s “I Made it”, Dr. Dre’s Compton Movie Soundtrack (where Dontae composed the iconic fanfare intro and played solos throughout the album). The Final track “Talking to My Diary” uses a 2minute jazz trumpet solo after Dre’s verse over a hiphop song which was Dontae’s 1st take. He also plays on Kendrick Lamar’s “County Building Blues”, Snoop Dog’s Ego Trippin, Aloe Blacc’s smash song “I’m the Man”, and Beyonce’s Huge Ego among countless other hits. He has toured in the band of Justin Timberlake since 2013 where he performs in the Netflix Movie “JT & The Tennessee Kids. Dontae has performed in front of millions in the 2020 Experience World tour, Legends of Summer World Tour, and Man of The Woods World Tour. He has alo been on the bands of Lady Antebellum (You Look Good), D’angelo (Vodoo), Kamasi Washington, Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, and most recently has been the arranger, orchestrator, and Music director for Queen Latifah.
Dontae has played trumpet on countless TV shows such as the Soul Train Awards, BET Awards, HipHop Awards, MTV Awards, BET HONORS, the NAACP Image Awards, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, SNL, Trumpet Awards, McDonalds 365 Awards, American Idol, The Voice, The Masked Singer, and The Four. His first scoring stage session was for “Mall of America” by composer Jacob Yoffee for the largest inside mall ride in America with Trumpeters Jon Lewis and Tom Hooten. His jazz trumpet playing can be heard on the new release by Kamasi Washington called “Heaven and Earth”.
Dontae has over 10 artist albums on his indy label Winslowdynasty among them are: Dontae Winslow “Ballads” feat Roy Hargrove, Dontae Winslow “EnterThe Dynasty” feat Questlove, Dennis Chambers, Brian Frasier-Moore, Adam Blackstone, and Chick Corea, Winslowdynasty “The Life Album” feat his wife Mashica, and Change a Life Change The World his award winning kids album.
After touring with JT Dontae released a summer party anthem sure to get you moving entitled “Shit Yeah” with him producing the TNkids live band along with analog synths and sing rapping the verse/choruses.
His new work “Trumpet And A Mic”, available everywhere, is a short film he directed, orchestrated, and composed music for about his life and overcoming obstacles while turning pain into redemptive power through faith.
Dontae started trumpet at age 10 but due to bad public school teachers had many embouchure changes in middle and high school and a hard start at getting the trumpet to work Good physically for him. He formed his interest in the middle band of a sax player Richard Burns and learned to play by ear. In high school
His first private lessons were with Jari Villanueva, then continued trumpet and learned to read music from Carolyn Foulkes in high school. At The New School Dontae studied with Roy Hargrove who would become a life musical mentor until his passing. In college at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University Dontae studied with Wayne Cameron for undergrad, and Langston Fitzgerald III for graduate in classical trumpet performance. He has always had great jazz lessons from Maryland based jazz giant trumpeter Tom Williams and has been mentored by Jon Faddis and Wallace Roney. As a recipient of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Fellowship at USC Dontae studied jazz trumpet, composition, and film scoring with jazz legend trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard. Also at USC he studied with jazz legend Bobby Shew, string arranger Jeremy Lubbock, Studio trumpet legend Gary Grant, and Gospel Composer Margaret Douroux.
Dontae has composed music for the feature films : “In The Hive” by director Robert Townsend starring Oscar Award winner Michael Clarke Duncan, and Loretta Divine, The New Edition Story for BET by director Chris Robinson. In 2019 Esquire magazine recently voted “Baltimore Rising “ HBO’s documentary about the riots in Baltimore, directed by Sonja Sohn, one of the Top Documentaries of All-Time. “Baltimore Rising” explored the tragic death of Freddie Gray by Police and a broken justice system. The film used Dontae’s talent as film composer, Trailer composer, and End Song title songwriter and Music Producer which is rare for this industry.
Dontae arranged string orchestra for Eminem’s Coachella performance with Dr.Dre in 2017. He also arranged live string arrangements for Eminem’s MTV EURO’s premiere of “Walk On Water” as well as his SNL performance of Walk on Water, Stan, and Love The Way You Lie.
Dontae arranged “Suit N Tie” with full 300 piece marching band for Justin Timberlake in his Superbowl 52 performance. In an epic performance in 2019 Dontae arranged strings for Mary J. Blige’s lifetime achievement award on BET. He has been awarded the John Lennon International songwriting contest for winner Children’s music. Recently Dontae composed the music for Michelle Obama’s “Note To Self” on CBS by Gayle King.
Dontae has produced songs for platinum artists Snoop, Dr. Dre, Avant, Mary Mary, and Keyshia Cole. As an arranger he has orchestrated/arranged and played trumpet in the show for Queen Latifah’s debut concert with the Boston Pops, and recently their 2019 Fourth of July Summer Holiday Concert series. Dontae is influenced by all styles of music especially European classical composers Shostakovich, Mahler, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff and Chopin. In his playing you can hear his love for the soul and swag of Lee Morgan, the harmony of Woody Shaw, the pathos of Roy Hargrove, and the elegance of Miles Davis.
He designed his own custom trumpet the “Winslowdynasty Model” DWA6 model by Adams Instruments with Miel Adams and was featured on their international magazine cover.
In addition Dontae is a jazz improvisation, music production, film composing and performance clinician for such esteemed institutions as The Berklee School of Music, The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, The Los Angeles Unified School District, and The Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University.
Dontae is family man who has been married to his wife, artist/songwriter/singer Mashica Winslow for 20 blissful Years and they have two amazing kids.
Dontae Winslow Links
Podcast Credits
- “A Room with a View“ – composed and performed by Howie Shear
- Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard at SC Sound Labs
- Cover Art – Phil Jordan
- Podcast Host – John Snell
Internationally acclaimed cross-genre trumpeter Niall O’Sullivan has performed all over the world, from orchestral playing to his solo theatre show. Niall has performed in some of the world’s most stunning venues throughout Ireland, Europe, Asia and the USA.
When the trumpet world got word of his growing profile as a performer and recording artist, Niall became a performing artist for Schilke Trumpets, Chicago exclusively. This relationship has seen Niall represent Schilke across the globe, from Dublin to Los Angeles.
John Hutchinson is a trumpeter, arranger, composer, teacher and blogger. Graduating from the Royal College of Music, London in 1999, he began his freelance career working with many of the UK’s major orchestras as well as recording and performing with major international pop acts such as Joss Stone and Bjork.
These days, John concentrates mainly on his media composition and production, brass and jazz arranging, and his trumpet teaching at some of the UK’s top schools. Having worked alongside numerous trumpet manufacturers over the years he also now engages with over 50,000 trumpeters around the world each month through his specialist trumpet website, MouthpieceOnline.com.
Hub van Laar founded his company in 1990 in Margraten, near Maastricht, on the border triangle to the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Beginning as a workshop for brass wind instruments, the company expanded rapidly under the direction of Hub van Laar and Heidrun Jöchner to become an enterprise of world repute.
A new trumpet or flugelhorn is certainly not something one buys every day, and musicians develop a special relationship with their instrument. This is why Hub van Laar attaches great importance to individual and intensive contact with his customers. Over the years Van Laar has built up a wide range of trumpets and flugelhorns with all the technical requirements needed for all kinds of musicians and for every kind of music. These instruments were created in close cooperation with a number of musicians and have been continually improved, ensuring that the majority of customers will find “their” perfect trumpet or flugelhorn among them.
A native of New Orleans, Robert Karon received his Bachelor of Arts cum laude in Music from UCLA and Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York City. He was the recipient of the Longy Award for achievement in Solfege. His teachers include Robert DiVall, Irving Bush, William Vacchiano, and Arnold Jacobs. Proficient in three languages, Karon toured South America, the Far East, and Europe during his two years with the Mexico City Philharmonic and played first trumpet with the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela.
Bob Karon’s latest endeavor is his educational website 
Peter Bond has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1992. Raised in Rockford Illinois, his path to the “Met” was atypical; while his future orchestra colleagues were attending professional training programs like Interlochen and Tanglewood, Mr. Bond spent summers on the road with a drum and bugle corps and the rest of his time focused on big band jazz. This pattern continued through college at Western Illinois University, where he received a degree in Music Education. It was only in graduate school at Georgia State University that he turned his attention to orchestral trumpet, studying with John Head, Principal Trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has also studied on an “outpatient” basis with Vincent Cichowicz, Adolph Herseth, Arnold Jacobs, Robert Nagle, and James Pandolfi.
Toru “Tiger” Okoshi was born in the Year of the Tiger on March 21 1950, just outside of Osaka (Ashiya city, Hyogo) As a child he was, in fact, devoted to painting as he loves today. At 13, he had an enlightening experience to see Louis Armstrong Perform live in Osaka, Japan, only 6 months after he begun to play the trumpet. ”He was painting the air with his trumpet” recalls Okoshi. Today, Okoshi often describes the relationship with his horn: “When I play, I want to paint the air with my colorful tone. Choices between long or short strokes, quick or slow, high in the canvas or low, brighter color or darker, with a fat brush or a pen. Paint the air one note at a time.”
Tiger, who loves sports, was invited to perform “The Star Spangled Banner” at the opening game of the 2007 season between Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at Fenway Park, as well as the playoff games in 2007 and 2008. Tiger’s trumpet was surrounded by 20 trumpets, 10 trombones and 7 Japanese Taiko drummers playing his original arrangement. In 1997, Tiger recorded a CD entitled “Hustle Tigers” for Japanese major league baseball team Hanshin Tigers.
Markus Stockhausen is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. He is as much at home in jazz as in contemporary and classical music. For about 25 years he collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who composed many beautiful works for him. With his brother Simon he realized several internationally acclaimed musical projects.
Freddie Jones is a popular jazz trumpet player and composer in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. With an amazing musical gift, Freddie Jones kicks up the energy of a room a notch or two and thrills a jazz-lover’s soul! Audiences are in awe of the sound this Freddie Jones can coax from his horns. Freddie has taken his trumpet and his group on the road throughout the southwest, performing in hot spots from Austin’s’ The Elephant Room to Little Rock’s Riverfront Auditorium to numerous festivals in the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex, Oklahoma City, and everywhere in between. He has also performed in Paris, The Hague and Rotterdam. He has several cds to his credit. His band, the Freddie Jones Jazz Group, never fails to pull in the audience and deliver an exciting sound.
Students are required to practice and perform for other kids so that they may inspire each other and create a platform for dialogue about their goals and achievements. Having kids perform music, such as classical or jazz, at a skill level that shows great musicianship at an early age, can allow children to create and realize their own dreams and activities. Having quartets perform for kids who are homeless, ill, or in other at-risk situations brings a new dimension by which each child may begin to see beyond his or her present situation. Whether the child is the musician or listener, the idea is to create opportunities for each group to see other situations or to be inspired by their peer group.
Philip Smith joined the New York Philharmonic as Co-Principal Trumpet in October 1978, and assumed the position of Principal Trumpet in June 1988. His father, Derek Smith, a renowned English cornet soloist, provided his early training. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, having studied with Edward Treutel and William Vacchiano, former Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic. In January 1975, while still at Juilliard, Sir Georg Solti appointed Mr. Smith to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Smith has also appeared with many symphonic wind ensembles, including the US “President’s Own” Marine Band, the West Point Academy Band, the US Army TRADOC Band, the US Coast Guard Band, La Philharmonie des Vents des Quebec and many major university wind ensembles. He appeared at The College Band Directors National Association Convention in Austin, Texas, for the world premiere of Turrin’s Chronicles (1999) with the University of New Mexico Wind Ensemble. A subsequent recording of Chronicles was produced which included the world premiere of Stephen Gryc’s Evensong (2000) and Turrin’s Fandango (2000). Alfred Cohen’s “curls of motion” was premiered in 2008 with the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble. Aaron Kernis’ a Voice, a Messenger was premiered in 2013 with the University of Illinois Wind Ensemble.
In 2005, Mr. Smith was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon RAM). In 2006, Mr. Smith was given the International Trumpet Guild Honorary Award.As a member of the Principal Brass Quintet, Mr. Smith has toured Japan four times, as well as Brazil and Germany. He has also performed and recorded with the Canadian Brass, Empire Brass, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, and New York Virtuosi Chamber Symphony. His solo recordings include Contest Solos produced by the International Trumpet Guild; Fandango, featuring New York Philharmonic Principal Trombonist Joseph Alessi and the University of New Mexico Wind Symphony (Summit); My Song of Songs with the New York Staff Band of The Salvation Army (Triumphonic); Copland’s Quiet City (Deutsche Grammophone); New York Legends (CALA); Orchestral Excerpts for Trumpet (Summit); Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto for Trumpet and Five Instruments (New World); Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 (Koch); Walton’s Facade (Arabesque); and The Trump Shall Resound and Repeat the Sounding Joy(Heritage).