Quick Facts
ScorpioBiography
John LaBarbera (born November 10, 1945) is a trumpeter and arranger who worked with the Buddy Rich Orchestra during the late 1960s.
Early life
LaBarbera was born in Warsaw, New York, on November 10, 1945. His home town is Mount Morris, New York. He studied music with "his father and at Potsdam (New York) State Teachers College (1962–3) and the Berklee School of Music (1964–5)".
Later life and career
LaBarbera joined Buddy Rich's band in 1968, but moved to Buddy DeFranco's Glenn Miller Band later that year, before rejoining Rich in 1971. He starting arranging when with DeFranco, and continued with Rich.
"In the 1980s and 1990s he worked principally as a composer and an arranger, supplying new scores for college and high-school big bands and fulfilling commissions for films, television, and commercials". In the area of jazz education, he "directed jazz ensembles at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, from 1988 to 1991 and then joined the faculty in the jazz studies program at the University of Louisville".
His On the Wild Side was nominated for a Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Grammy award in 2004.