Jazz was for a long time in my family what it was for most families, background noise, study noise or just noise. But for some reason, any time I heard it, the music spoke to me. I, as young as 4 years old, distinctly remember hearing what I now know is “So What” by Miles being played often in the car with my dad. He eventually got rid of his CDs, Kind of Blue included, and I hadn't thought much of this weird sounding music as a very young boy. Just before middle school, I remember the familiar tune playing once again— this time in a youtube video of an old TV show airing an episode of Miles playing with his quintet: “The Sound– of Miles Davis”. It was strangely familiar and felt good on my ears, but I just couldn't take my eyes off the glare of his shiny horn, and my ears from his charismatic lines. I watched the video almost every day just listening in awe– I knew that I wanted to play the trumpet. I started playing jazz for my middle school’s band in grade seven, but I never took the horn too seriously, not until high school. There I was exposed to jazz at a significantly higher level, at big competitions and high stakes performances. Continuing jazz into my freshman year, I never watched the A band play until we had to travel together for competitions and performances outside of town. I remember vividly, one specific performance of UNT’s “Camelback Blues” played by the A Band that inspired me to recreate the sound of jazz. I was mind blown; the lead trumpet player, commanding the band with such confidence, and soloing with such mature articulation. I couldn't get that big band sound out of my head after the performance and spent the rest of my school year watching trumpet jazz solos and videos, or trying to replicate his sound in any way possible. My eagerness to replicate the familiar sound of jazz that I had heard so many years ago, combined with that wonderful band that had inspired my freshman self, gave me a sense of need to study this music. But greater than this, my failures and bad auditions, gave me the sense of urgency to work hard. Today I play lead trumpet for my school’s top Jazz Band and am the main soloist in my section, and first trumpet for the SYS Symphonic Winds. I have also played 2nd chair in the All State Jazz Band for the 2025 show and screamed in my marching band this most previous season. I work not just to satisfy my ear for this music, which has been an integral part of my childhood and culture, but to inspire and move others. Music is, to me, the most important part of my culture, and society as a whole and I need to learn jazz specifically because it lives and breathes with my soul; it is a part of me. With jazz music, I seek to provide for people a medium of connection. Professionally, I want to begin with expanding my talents into the studio scene, and surround myself with older, wiser musicians who will inspire me, and push me to the next level. My ultimate goal is to be a solo jazz musician with my own records. I want to impact people how I have been impacted, and make people move by my music in ways that no other art can.