Tigger is a trumpet player, composer, arranger and orchestrator who specializes in jazz and contemporary music, and after recently graduating from Canton High School as the Instrumental Music Department Scholar, he is now a sophomore at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) pursuing his BM in Music Composition. Currently, he plays Lead Trumpet in the UConn Jazz Ensemble.

 

He has had the opportunity to open up for, and/or solo with the Funky Dawgz Brass Band, the Jeff Holmes Big Band, The New England Jazz Ensemble, Chris Potter and many others. He has won numerous awards at universities such as UMASS Amherst, UConn (Storrs), the University of New Hampshire, and many more including Essentially Ellington. He also played trumpet in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra which he was featured with in Downbeat Magazine.

 

He is frequently commissioned to write music for many ensembles, and he has written music for the Canton High School Jazz Ensemble, the Tigger Kluessendorf Jazz Combo, the Canton High School Jazz Combo (which he composed and arranged the entire library of music for), the Canton High School Symphonic Band, the Canton Alumni Jazz Band and many other bands all around. His music has also been played by the UConn Jazz Ensemble, and has been used as college audition repertoire. He has played venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, The Appel Room, the Skirball Center at NYU, Mohegan Sun, Ballroom of the Americas, the Ertegun Atrium, among many others.

 

Tigger just recently released his debut single “Bad Timing” on all streaming platforms, such as iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and more. It was recorded by his big band, composed by him, and he can also be heard playing lead trumpet on the recording. He has also performed and/or recorded with today’s top musicians and bands such as Ted Nash, Marshall Gilkes, Tony Kadleck, Ingrid Jensen, Noah Preminger, Sherman Irby, Willie Applewhite, Marcus Printup, Tatum Greenblatt, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, P.S. Finn, producer Bryan Fryzel (Frequency) and many more. To learn more about Tigger, visit his website at www.tiggerk.com.