Terell Stafford

The title of his most recent album, Between Two Worlds, perfectly encapsulates the boundary-crossing life and career of renowned trumpet player, composer, and educator Terell Stafford. Hailed as “one of the great players of our time” by the late piano icon McCoy Tyner, Stafford unites any number of dichotomies in his music: jazz and classical traditions, stunning virtuosity and profound emotion, stylistic eclecticism and an immediately identifiable voice.

Stafford juggles roles as a thriving musician and an acclaimed educator, or as a visionary bandleader and an in-demand sideman for some of the music’s most legendary performers. Perhaps most importantly, he strives to strike that always precarious balance between a professional touring musician and a loving husband and father to his family.

The New Yorker called Stafford, “a distinguished bandleader and composer whose horn playing still startles with its verve and conviction.”

Those facets can be heard vividly on more than 180 recordings over the last three decades. That includes a dozen albums under Stafford’s own name, from his 1995 debut Time To Let Go to Between Two Worlds in 2023. In addition to the Terell Stafford Quintet, Stafford is the founder and Managing and Artistic Director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia (JOP).

As the Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Philadelphia’s Temple University, Stafford has become a nurturing mentor to new generations of up-and-coming jazz musicians. He’s helped to guide the university and its students to victories at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jack Rudin Jazz Championship and to grow the school’s Grammy-nominated record label, BCM&D, with recordings by the Temple University Jazz Band (including guest artists Christian McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, and Dick Oatts) and all-star ensembles featuring Stafford and his fellow faculty members.

Stafford has played a vital role in music by luminaries including Shirley Scott, Charles McPherson, Cedar Walton, Samara Joy, Bobby Watson, McCoy Tyner, Benny Golson, Kenny Barron, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, and Jon Faddis, He has enjoyed fruitful tenures with the Clayton Brothers band, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts, and Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

Disclosure information not submitted.

Presentation(s):

• RESCHEDULED: Ted Nash Big Band

  Wednesday, January 7, 2026
  9:10 PM - 10:00 PM CST