The Michelle Latimer Quartet

MICHELLE LATIMER ~ Biography
Michelle Latimer has been performing as both a trumpeter and vocalist for 20 years. Michelle taught herself to play at the age of seven by sneaking in time on her brother's horn while no one was around, and persevered when an acute asthma diagnosis when she was 11 led doctors to suggest that her parents discourage her efforts, insisting that she could never be very good. On the contrary, she quickly excelled in both singing and playing.
By the age of 17, Latimer had toured Europe as an ensemble principal and soloist, and by 18 was working as Artist-In-Residence at premier performing arts summer camps. Latimer studied trumpet with David Hickman and Ray Sasaki at the University of Illinois, where she also studied the Great American Songbook with renowned vocalist William Warfield.
Latimer has been a fan of jazz for many a moon, but only began studying it after moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid '90s. Since then, she has appeared at such venues as Jazz at Pearl's, Bix and the Maybeck Recital Hall, with the likes of Dick Whittington (pianist and host of the Concord Jazz series "Live at the Maybeck"), two-time Grammy Award-nominated pianist Mark Little and Calvin Keys. Her education includes years with both Whittington and Little. Latimer feels that she’s found her true calling in jazz. “I fell out of love with classical music study as a result of boredom and difficulty with the academic side of things, and had always wondered about how I might combine singing and playing - something that just didn’t seem like an option as a classical musician,” Latimer said. “I started listening to a lot of jazz while working as a newspaper reporter. One day, a friend turned me on to Chet Baker, and I immediately was hooked and knew what I’d probably spend the rest of my life doing.”
After taking a five-year hiatus from playing while working as a journalist, Michelle resumed her musical career in 1996. From 1997-2003 she was principal trumpeter and frequent soloist with the Contra Costa Wind Symphony. She is currently assistant principal trumpeter with the Golden Gate Park Municipal Band and appeared as a vocal and horn soloist in 2003 and 2004. In the past few years, Michelle has become a high-demand freelance soloist for religious and military services of all types, including becoming the "resident trumpeter" for the Presidio Post Chapel. She played and sang with the Vincent Robinson Collective before creating the Michelle Latimer (Jazz) Quartet in late 2001. She is a former member of the San Francisco-based pop group El Greco and both plays and sings on two of their CDs which have received international airplay. Latimer also plays clubs and parties around the Bay Area and beyond with the SF-based band Funky Little Shack. Michelle's composition and playing skills are featured on Fightmaster's 2001 release "Closer Now," which is available through www.cdbaby.com, and she is a guest artist playing flugelhorn on the 2002 release by legendary timbale player Benny Velarde (Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi) entitled "Viva Velarde."
"Michelle Latimer Sings and Plays," Michelle's first date as a leader (2004), reveals Michelle's strong vocal and horn skills as well as a talent for composition, lyrics, arranging and producing on a 12-song CD featuring the finest Jazz talent the Bay Area has to offer, including Vince Lateano (Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi); Jon Evans (Tori Amos, Kenny Werner, Kitty Margolis); Mark Little (Steve Allen, Pee Wee Ellis, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine) and Alex Candelaria (Graham Connah, Scott Amendola and his own group). An official CD release event/concert will be held at San Francisco’s venerable Empire Plush Room in January 2005, while touring began in late 2004 with a Chicago engagement and other Midwest shows. “Michelle Latimer Sings and Plays,” as of December 2004, has received airplay in three major and many minor media markets throughout the United States.