The UNC Summer Jazz workshop is underway this week, and musicians have traveled from all over to witness inspiring performances and to hone their craft in jazz music.
One of the many people in attendance is Jhon Martez, a 20-year old trumpet player in his fifth semester at Berklee College of Music.
Having performed the trumpet for most of his life, Jhon was immediately interested when he was offered a scholarship to attend this incredible workshop.
Jhon was born in the Dominican Republic, and he comes from a family of music, with his father playing the saxophone and his mother being a singer. “My father was my first teacher, and I have always wanted to be a musician like him.” Jhon said.
Along with his parents, Jhon has two older brothers who are also musicians themselves.
He says the first time he picked up the trumpet was when he was 2 years old, but it wasn’t the way you would expect.
“I was slinging that thing around like it was a toy,” he said. It wasn’t until he was 4 years old that he actually produced his first note.
From there, Jhon honed his craft until receiving a scholarship to Berklee and moving to Boston. Right now, he is a student in the trumpet performance degree program, but he studies other disciplines such as production and composition.
Aside from his studies, he maintains an active schedule of performing at gigs in the Boston area, with his favorite gigging experience coming at a beer factory in the city.
“It was such an interesting place to play and something I had not experienced before,” Jhon said.
Aside from his parents, his inspirations include Wynton Marsalis, Clifford Brown and Arturo Sandoval .
Jhon remarks that Sandoval is of particular inspiration because of his Latin American influences within his jazz performance.
Jhon is just one of the many inspiring musicians who comes to this camp to hone their craft in the musical cornucopia that is jazz music.