Originally from Sacramento,
CA, home of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Festival, Roger started
musical studies by learning to play piano at age 8, trumpet at age 10, and
trombone at age 12! In the eighth grade, Roger decided he preferred trumpet, and
has been playing it ever since. In high school, he played lead trumpet in the All City Jazz Band and also attended the Stan Kenton Jazz Clinic at
California State University, Sacramento, for two years. At CSU Sacramento, he
worked with arranger/composer Mark Taylor and with Rich Bice, leader of the
Full Faith & Credit big band. Roger later studied with Rich Bice in Silicon
Valley.
After high school, Roger
attended UC San Diego as a pre-med student and played in their Jazz Band directed by the great Jimmy Cheatam. A year later he returned to Northern
California and attended UC Davis, where he graduated with a B.S. in Electrical
Engineering (BSEE) in 1986 and an MSEE in 1988. His electronics training was
focused on analog and mixed signal integrated circuit design. While at UC Davis,
he was the band manager of the Student Organization Jazz Band and solo
trumpet chair of Jazz Musicians at UC Davis from 1984 to 1988, working
under Fred "Bud" Lange.
Since moving to Silicon
Valley, Roger has performed with many local groups and guest artists including
Foothill College, De Anza Daddios, West Valley College (backing guest artists
such as Dave Weckl, Wayne Bergeron, and Bobby Shew), the Black Tie Jazz
Orchestra, the Redwood Symphony, the Peninsula Pops, Silicon Vibe, Silicon
Valley Houserockers, Full Spectrum Jazz, and others.
He is currently a Vice
President of Engineering for Intersil Corporation in Milpitas.
“A bit of advice, if you
want trumpet playing to be easier, check out Bobby Shew.”
You can send email to:
Roger
Levinson
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