We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Altin Sencalar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Altin, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

My senior year of high school I decided to pursue jazz studies as my major in college. This came as a shock to my family as I was very committed to classical music. When I was 16 I was already passionate about music but I wasn’t huge into playing jazz for the social part of high school band. I was concentrating on the euphonium which is my first instrument and was wanting to do the classical performance route after attending the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts which is regarded as one of the premiere summer institutions for classical musicians. I then went back to school with this love of classical music and started to see that the jazz band I was in was starting to play jazz at a high level for high school musicians. We became finalist for 3 different national competitions one of them being the top competition, the finals round for Essentially Ellington through Jazz at Lincoln Center. I got to interact with Wynton Marsalis’ band members, something that doesn’t really happen in the classical world. The students had the opportunity to talk with them over the course of many days and hang with them as well. I got to interact with trombonist, Elliot Mason and he gave me a 30 minute lesson over one of the jam session tunes that I was going to play at the student jam session. He donated his time outside of his commitment to the festival to ensure that I felt comfortable playing at the jam session. While I’m sure others in many musical worlds have experienced this, it was something I had never experienced in the classical world. I was automatically drawn to the jazz world because of this type of mentorship. After this I decided to pursue jazz as my major instead of classical euphonium. Since this was almost a late start to a new art form for me I wasn’t admitted into any college except Texas State University but was conditionally admitted until June after high school graduation. 12 years later I have toured the world with people like Rodney Whitaker, DeeDee Bridgewater, Michael Bublé, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Dafnis Prieto, and many others. I have been a finalist or winner for every major jazz trombone competition, played on two major movie scores, and have been a university professor. Lastly I have recently been named a Yamaha Performing Artist, Posi-Tone Recording Artist, and have currently released 4 albums as a leader. None of this would have happened without the original change/ risk I took at 16.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I originally got into music because my aunt and uncle have been band directors in Texas for over 28 years. I would frequently spend time around them and play around on different instruments. I would listen to a bunch of random music as well but wasn’t studying music until I was around 10 years old. However, I was always around music because of my aunt and uncle and my mom saw that I had an interest so she kept bringing me around that environment.

I am currently a jazz trombonist who lives in New York City. I play in multiple bands as a freelance trombonist as well as leading my own group around the country. Currently I am touring my newest album, In Good Standing. I have release shows in North Carolina, New York, Austin, Pittsburgh, Boston, Jacksonville, Hartford, Connecticut, and Akron. Ohio. I also am on faculty at Brevard Music Center’s Jazz Institute, Friday Musicale Jazz Intensive, and teach multiple private lessons throughout the year.

I am most proud of the people who I get to perform for along with the people donate their time to play with me. I love playing for people who can hear the joy in my performances and music. I also love mentoring younger students who come to me wanting lessons and wanting to achieve specific goals such as admission to camps, festivals, colleges, etc.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal is to be a part of the jazz trombone lineage that has affecting me so positively. I love knowing that I get to play the trombone in the same country/world that JJ Johnson, Slide Hampton, Melba Liston, Curtis Fuller, and the many modern day giants. I hope to inspire younger trombonist the same way I have been inspired. I want to also go down in history as a contributor to this jazz trombone lineage.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Achieving something that you didn’t expect to achieve to achieve. Finding other avenues as a creative is always surprising as you expect to go down one way with a project but then you find something within your journey that changes your original journey and makes you appreciate how finding new paths influence you and your future projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.altinsencalarmusic.com/
• Instagram: @altin101
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/altin.sencalar/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/altin-sencalar-76553398/
• Twitter: @asencalarmusic
• Youtube: @AltinSencalarMusic

Image Credits
Anna Yatskevich