7/27/2021
Education and Outreach
Trumpeter Kenny Rampton does much to make his hometown of Las Vegas proud.
He tours the world with The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, one of today’s foremost jazz groups, and records music for major television series like the all-new Apple TV show “Schmigadoon.”
All of this success, he says, stems from his Vegas upbringing — which included watching his father perform with legends like Frank Sinatra, and himself playing in Las Vegas Strip shows as a teen.
“I got an unbelievable (music) education,” says Kenny, who now lives in New York City. “It set me up for life, really.”
Now, Kenny – who has lit up The Smith Center’s stages with his original music, with The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and with the Las Vegas Philharmonic – pays this forward to Las Vegas youth.
Kenny’s Las Vegas nonprofit Jazz Outreach Initiative (JOI) promotes jazz education through programs such as workshops with leading artists, in-school performances and providing instruments for underprivileged students.
He hopes this might inspire Las Vegas students to make a life of music, just like him.
“To make a difference in my hometown, what’s more meaningful that that?” he says. “It’s the town that gave me my start. I think it’s important for me to pass that on.”
Raised by Music
Kenny watched and heard the world’s top performers “from the time I was born,” he says.
His father Roger Rampton, a percussion giant in Las Vegas, toured and performed with iconic artists like Elvis and every member of the Rat Pack, on top of playing with the then-called Las Vegas Symphony.
Kenny still remembers his father’s many rehearsals and jam sessions.
“It inspired me beyond what I can put into words,” says Kenny, who also learned music theory from his organist mother. “I’d go hear trumpet players performing the most phenomenal parts I’ve ever heard to this day, and at the time as a kid, I thought that was the norm and that’s how it’s got to be done.”
He strived to reach these musicians’ prowess when he took up trumpet at age 11.
His skills advanced rapidly, especially training with legendary Las Vegas trumpeters Tommy Porrello and Walter Blanton, who performed with most musical titans who visited Las Vegas such as Tony Bennett, James Brown, Neil Diamond and more.
His Vegas community also offered valuable opportunities for him to play. With his father’s help, Kenny started performing in Strip shows during high school.
“I got to work with professional musicians at a young age,” he says.
When he attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) for two years, embracing its leading jazz program, he also joined the college’s initiative that allowed students to substitute for professionals in Las Vegas Strip performances.
“It was a really great music scene when I was a kid,” he says. “I had a lot of great opportunities.”
Making His Own Way
This incredible introduction to music — and his relentless hard work — paid off.
After two years at UNLV, he transferred to the Berklee College of Music in Boston on scholarship, where his virtuosity earned him a $2,000 cash award from the Boston Jazz Society.
“I’d never seen that much money in my life,” he remembers. “I put it in my pocket and used it to move to New York.”
There, he played wherever he could – including the streets and the subway – while working as a security guard and temping at a bank.
Everything changed at a jam session with other New York musicians, where Kenny impressed a trumpet player who performed with Ray Charles.
“The next thing I know, a couple months later I get a call from Ray Charles himself, asking if I’d be interested in auditioning,” Kenny remembers. “I joined the band, and we went out for a nine-month world tour.”
A Top-Tier Career
Touring with Charles, who “never had a bad night,” proved truly inspiring, Kenny says.
It was also hard work.
“It was nine months straight of one nighters, or sometimes what they call hit and runs, where you don’t even have a hotel room, you just go to the venue, change, perform, change again and go to the bus and drive to the next city,” he says. “It was exhausting, but I was young and had lots of energy.”
Once again, Kenny’s hard work paid off. Once a musician plays with someone of Charles’ status, he explains, he builds a reputation – and many opportunities follow.
“I never had to look back to doing temp jobs,” he says. “I was working with lots of bands, freelancing and accepting the first gig I got offered, then turning down the next person who called.”
Through the years, he jumped from band to band, playing with jazz legends such as drummer Panama Francis, vocalist Jon Hendricks, the Mingus Big Band and bandleader Lionel Hampton.
Kenny even transitioned into performing with Broadway orchestra pits, including blockbusters like “Chicago” and “Anything Goes,” starring two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster.
His skills earned him ongoing chances to play with nine-time Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis, which eventually led Kenny to joining Marsalis’ renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
“Wynton is not only brilliant, he is one of the most giving people you’d ever hope to meet in your life,” Kenny says. “And playing with this band gives me the kind of a podium that affords me the opportunities I want to do.”
Playing for Television
Now playing with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for 11 years, Kenny’s opportunities only continue to grow.
He has played with the orchestra for the “Sesame Street” TV show for over a decade – and even recorded for the show from his home studio during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plus after months of lockdown, he was invited to perform as lead trumpet in the orchestra for anticipated new musical TV show “Schmigadoon,” with a star-studded cast including Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming and Keegan-Michael Key.
“It’s a real throwback to Broadway musicals from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s,” Kenny describes. “It’s just fun music to play. I’ve always loved that music.”
Recording in the studio marked his first time in over a year playing alongside other musicians, he adds.
“We started playing and I was on the verge of all-out crying, because I’m like, ‘I’m playing music with people again,’” he says.
Giving Back to His Hometown
Kenny sparked the idea to start a Las Vegas nonprofit when performing at The Smith Center with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2016.
After the soundcheck, Kenny held a Q&A session with Southern Nevada students at The Smith Center.
“I teared up during it, because I looked out and I was so moved by all these students who were there,” he says. “I saw them as being reflections of myself at that age. I remembered being on the other side of that coin.”
Recalling how exposure to great artists inspired him as a child, he wanted to provide this for more Las Vegas youths.
He described his vision to his best friend Gary Cordell – vice president of the Musicians’ Union in Las Vegas – and they agreed to cofound a nonprofit dedicated to jazz education in Vegas.
“Our catchphrase is ‘let’s make a difference,’” Kenny says.
His nonprofit JOI has done that and more.
It launched the Las Vegas Youth Jazz Orchestra, and created a high school jazz festival hosted by UNLV, the Essentially Ellington High School Band Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the nation.
JOI’s additional programs include: “Jazz for Young People,” a jazz sextet introducing at-risk students to music by jazz luminaries; “Band Director’s Academy,” professional development training to help band directors teach jazz more effectively; “Buzzin’ in Brass,” a brass quintet that teaches middle school students about playing brass instruments; and “Jazz Routes,” providing refurbished instruments and a year of free lessons for students in need.
“We’ve gotten messages from families that during the COVID pandemic, this is the one thing that gave students some hope,” Kenny says. “We’ve had nothing but positive responses.”
With the JOI board now including Grammy nominee Clint Holmes and community leaders like U.S. district judge Richard Boulware, Kenny looks forward to giving back to Las Vegas for years to come.
“What’s more important to me than making money is making a difference,” he says. “That’s my goal in life at this point.”