Neil Stalnaker

Trumpeter Neil Stalnaker has been living and working in Tokyo since 1998. While in Japan, he has made several tours throughout Japan playing clubs, concerts and festivals many great musicians. In addition to touring and "live" performances, he has done a considerable amount of recording (CD's, Video Game Music, Movie Soundtracks, etc).

Neil came to Tokyo from New York City, where was playing with musicians such as Arnie Lawrence and Fukushi Tainaka.

Prior to moving to New York, Stalnaker had lived in Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. After finishing college at West Virginia University and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Neil won an audition to become a member of the U.S. Navy Band, Washington, D.C. Soon after moving to D.C., Neil became a member of the U.S. Navy's premier big band, "The Commodores", and was regularly featured as a trumpet soloist. As a member of the band, he performed over 200 concerts a year in and around the Washington, D.C. area and all over the east coast and on national tours. Guest soloists included Joe Pass, Ernie Watts, Pete Christlieb, Bob Mintzer, Eddie Daniels, Herb Ellis and many others.

After leaving "The Commodores", Neil returned to West Virginia and spent the next several years struggling with throat cancer and the after effects. During this time, he started doing hundreds of school concerts, clinics and performing at jazz festivals in the USA and in Europe (Montreux, Switzerland, Verbier, Brissago) and Russia.