"Big Apple" Trumpeter Jonathon Powell

During his 20-year stint in NY, Jonathon shared the stage and recording studio with world renown musicians and artists including Blood, Sweat and Tears, Eddie Palmieri, Ricky Martin, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Bob Mintzer, The WDR Big Band, JT Taylor (Kool & the Gang), Sam Rivers, Lenny White, Reggie Workman, Snoop Dogg.

Powell earned a name for himself in the NYC Latin music scene by winning The Latin Jazz Corner’s Best Latin Jazz Trumpet Player of 2009, becoming Eddie Palmieri’s first call trumpet player since 2013 and helping Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra bring home Grammy wins in 2014, 2015 and 2020.

Powell’s original music can be heard on his band Nu Sangha’s 2010 release “Transcend” as well as their 2015 release and 4-star earning (Down Beat review) “Beacons of Light”. Jonathon recently co-founded the latin jazz powerhouse group Sonido Solar, releasing the album “Eddie Palmieri presents Sonido Solar” in 2022 featuring 10-time grammy winner Eddie Palmieri.

Jazz writer and guru Nat Hentoff first wrote of Jonathan in 2003, “Powell’s crackling range and the electricity of his imagination reminded me of the first time I heard Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown. His voice is his own…” -JazzTimes (April 2003).

Jonathan is a proud endorser of Yamaha Trumpets and Flugelhorns. In 2021 Jonathan relocated to Colorado to join the United States Air Force Academy Band.