Rick Braun is a versatile musician, playing the trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, and keyboards, as well as being a singer and composer. He has also produced numerous records. Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and raised in nearby Orefield. His father was a steelworker and his mother a housewife. He began playing the trumpet at age nine after being inspired by the playing of Herb Alpert on television.
Braun's first professional gig came at age 16, when he played in a local band called Power. He attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he studied jazz performance. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a studio musician. Braun has recorded and toured with such artists as Rod Stewart, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Patti Austin, Kenny Loggins, Natalie Cole, Amy Grant, Donna Summer, Melissa Manchester, and many others.
In 1992, Braun formed the band Maynard Ferguson & Big Bop Nouveau, which recorded three albums for Atlantic Records. The band toured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan.
Braun's composition "Momentum" was commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Wright brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk. The piece was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Slatkin.
Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herb Alpert are among the musicians he has named as influences. His CD All It Takes included a song titled "Tijuana Dance," which is a pun on Alpert's outfit Tijuana Brass. One of his musical influences was Freddie Hubbard, and in 2008, Braun wrote the song "Freddie Was Here" in memory of Hubbard, who passed away that year. Braun released the song on his album All it Takes.
Braun has won numerous awards, including a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and a Billboard Magazine Achievement Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and he has been inducted into the International Trumpet Guild Hall of Fame.
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