Lewis Michael Soloff (February 20, 1944 – March 8, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor.

Biography

From his birth place of New York City, United States, he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. He worked with Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1968 until 1973. Prior to this he worked with Machito, Tony Scott, Maynard Ferguson, and Tito Puente. In the 1980s, he was a member of Members Only, a jazz ensemble who recorded for Muse Records. Soloff was a regular member and sub-leader of Gil Evans' Monday Night Orchestra, started from 1983, and trained his ability as band leader. His debut album recording was supported by Gil. His 2010 recording Sketches of Spain is a tribute to the classic 1959-60 Miles Davis-Gil Evans collaboration, and he has performed the reconstructed Evans arrangements of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Soloff was also a longtime member of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet and Mingus Big Band. Soloff made frequent guest appearances with jazz orchestras all over the world such as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (directed by Wynton Marsalis) and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra (directed by Ray Reach). He was among a handful of trumpeters capable of playing demanding lead trumpet parts while also contributing improvisational solos and of playing baroque, classical, and later orchestral and chamber music styles, which made him an in-demand session player for commercials and soundtracks. Soloff died in 2015, at the age of 71, after suffering a heart attack in New York City.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Franco Ambrosetti With Ray Anderson With George Benson With Carla Bley With Blood, Sweat & Tears With Hank Crawford With Gil Evans With Maynard Ferguson With Ricky Ford With Michael Franks With Dizzy Gillespie With Jimmy Heath With O'Donel Levy With Herbie Mann With Helen Merrill With Tisziji Muñoz With Bobby Previte With Dakota Staton With Jeremy Steig With Sonny Stitt With Stanley Turrentine With others