Trumpet Player Mike Herriott of Toronto, Canada was born in London, England but spent his formative years in St. John's Newfoundland. Mike began playing the trumpet at age six. By the time Mike was eleven, he was already performing for large audiences and recording for CBC radio and television. Two of Mike's biggest influences at that time
were his father, John ... and, the conductor of the Gower Youth Band, Edsel Bonnell. Mike relates that it is basically because of these two people that he ended up being a professional musician. Mike didn't play trumpet in the high school band; instead, he played percussion. Mike was getting a lot of trumpet playing experience outside of school; Newfoundland Symphony, Ed Goph Big Band, various freelance recording and casual gigs, that he decided he would like to explore another instrument while playing in the Brother Rice
High School Band. Luckily, the band director there was a former trumpet teacher of Mike's (Lester Goulding) and he saw the value in expanding Mike's musical repertoire. Mike studied at Memorial University of Newfoundland, all the while maintaining a presence in the professional music community of St. John's. Mike played in the Band of the Ceremonial Guard (Ottawa) during the summers of his University years. He then went to study for a year at the Banff Centre of the Arts in Banff, Alberta. While at the Banff Centre, Mike performed for the
Master classes of Vinko Globokar, Anthony Plog, Stephen Maxim, Robert Aitken,
Janos Starker, and many concerts with a wide range of international
artist in a great variety of genres.
In 1989, Mike joined the Canadian Armed Forces as lead trumpet and trumpet soloist of the Naden Band of Maritime Forces, Pacific. Mike stayed with that group for 5 years and toured the United States, Canada, and the USSR
during his tenure. In 1994, Mike had the great opportunity of performing with Maynard Ferguson in a special concert in Banff, Alberta. This event was instrumental in Mike's decision to leave the military and enter the public sector.
Mike stayed on Canada's west coast for the next 13 years, performing as leader of his own groups, as well as with the Victoria Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Island Symphony, Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation, Hard Rubber Orchestra, and in the studios for radio, television, and motion pictures.
TRUMPET PLAYER MIKE HERRIOTT
TRUMPET PLAYER MIKE HERRIOTT
TRUMPET PLAYER MIKE HERRIOTT
In 2000, Trumpet Player Mike Herriott began performing his own
symphony pops shows and appeared as soloist with the Victoria Symphony, Newfoundland Symphony, Vancouver Island Symphony, Mississauga Symphony, Windsor Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra. Mike has recorded for Sony, Universal,
Roadhouse Records, Boathouse Records, CBC, and Disney, to name a few. Mike has appeared in concert with Maynard Ferguson, Slide Hampton, Maria Schneider, Rufus Reid, Kenny Wheeler, Rob McConnell, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Engelbert
Humperdink, Johnny Mathis, the Moody Blues, David Foster, Michael Buble, Marvin Hamlisch, and has toured North America, China, and Japan with various Broadway
Musicals including West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street,
Swing, Oliver, and Chicago.
Mike is currently the trumpet player for the Toronto (Canadian) production of Jersey Boys. Mike is also a founding member of Men In Brass, a brass duo with symphony orchestra partnership with Jeff Nelsen, horn player with the Canadian Brass and professor of horn at Indiana University. Living in Toronto, Mike continues to travel frequently for recordings, concerts, shows, and master class/clinics. Mike is sponsored by Yamaha Canada (trumpets, flugelhorns, and trombones) and Harrison Wedge Mouthpieces.
Mike has three CDs under his name and will be releasing his fourth this coming summer (2009) with NY guitarist Sean Harkness.
One of Mike's most important trumpet/brass
teachers was David Gray. David Gray was, at one point, the principal horn player with the London Symphony Orchestra (following Barry Tuckwell). He came to Newfoundland to be the conductor of the Newfoundland
Symphony. He was Mike's teacher for about a year when Mike was 13 years old; subsequently, inviting Mike to play with the orchestra. It was a rare opportunity to work with a world class player and teacher at such a young age. Other teachers who influenced Mike in significant ways are Leo Sandoval, Don Buell, Anthony Plog (all for trumpet performance), Hugh Fraser, Kenny Wheeler, Ian McDougall (for writing and arranging). Mike states, as for method books, there's always the Arban. There are so many different books that help with a wide variety of playing techniques and approaches. Larry Knopp (Principal Trumpet, Vancouver Symphony) put together a compilation of studies based on the teachings of Vincent Chicowicz; this is an excellent collection of pieces that focus on maintaining the all important air source. Sound is fundamental to playing any instrument. My clinics usually deal with the various contributing factors in getting the best sound; posture, breathing, finding the true center of pitch, and playing evenly throughout the range of the horn. Mike also offers clinics that focus on range development, endurance building, jazz improvisation, and ensemble coaching.
Trumpet Player Mike Herriott plays the Yamaha YTR-8310Z Bobby Shew Professional Model Bb trumpet, the new "Shotblast" YTR-8335RG Xeno Professional Model Bb trumpet, the YTR-9445CH Xeno Artist Professional Model C trumpet, the YFL-6310Z Shew Flugelhorn, the YTR-9830 Custom Piccolo trumpet, and the YSL-697Z Trombone. For mouthpieces, Mike performs on the Mike Herriott Signature line of mouthpieces manufactured by Harrison Wedge Mouthpieces in Vancouver, Canada.
