BIO

Tigger Kluessendorf is enjoying pursuing his passion as a very well-versed musician. Tigger is a trumpet player who specializes in jazz and commercial music, and after graduating from Canton High School as the Instrumental Music Department Scholar, he has recently graduated from the University of Connecticut (Storrs) with a B.M. in Music Composition.

During his time in college, he was the Lead Trumpet player in the UConn Jazz Ensemble, and he had played with the university’s Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble. He has worked with a wide variety of instructors for trumpet, such as his father Randal Kluessendorf, Tony Glausi, Tony Kadleck, Dominic Talotta and Gino Villareal. He most recently studied trumpet with GRAMMY© award-winning trumpet player Louis Hanzlik, and composition with GRAMMY© award-winning composer Kenneth Fuchs. He has had the opportunity to open up for, and/or solo with the Funky Dawgz Brass Band, the Jeff Holmes Big Band, The New England Jazz Ensemble, Chris Potter and many others.

Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards at universities such as UMASS Amherst, UConn (Storrs), the University of New Hampshire, and many more such as the Essentially Ellington festival. In high school he played trumpet in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra, which he was featured with in Downbeat Magazine. A highly active performer, he manages a busy schedule as a freelance musician. As well as performing, Tigger is often recording on albums and getting commissioned to write music for musical and digital media. A frequent sideman, he also is the Music Director and Manager for his personal 5-piece jazz combo, which he writes and arranges all of the music for. From playing trumpet to music directing and conducting, Tigger has been a part of numerous musical pit orchestras such as 9 to 5, Legally Blonde, Matilda, Grease, Fame, Mary Poppins, The Wedding Singer, The Little Mermaid, Annie, Damn Yankees, The Drowsy Chaperone and many more, including College Road Trip: The Musical, which he orchestrated, co-produced, and Music Directed/Conducted the orchestra for.

He has played venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, The Appel Room, the Skirball Center at NYU, Mohegan Sun, Ballroom of the Americas, the Ertegun Atrium, among many others. He has also performed and/or recorded with today’s top artists such as Ted Nash, Marshall Gilkes, Tony Kadleck, Bijan Mortazavi, Ingrid Jensen, Noah Preminger, Sherman Irby, Willie Applewhite, Marcus Printup, Tatum Greenblatt, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, P.S. Finn, producer Bryan Fryzel (Frequency) and many more. As well as his collaboration with these artists, he has also had the honor to play for Connecticut Governors Ned Lamont and Dannel Malloy. To date, Tigger has released two singles on all streaming platforms, such as iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and more. What can be heard is his original composition “Bad Timing” and his contemporary arrangement of “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die.” They were both recorded by his big band and he can also be heard playing lead trumpet on the recordings. His sheet music has been published and some of it is available for purchase at PDF Jazz Music.

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