About Ian
Trombonist Ian Kaufman, originally from San Diego, California, received his bachelor’s (2019) and master’s (2022) degrees from Temple University in Philadelphia where he played lead trombone in the top jazz ensemble under the direction of Terell Stafford. He was exposed to jazz early on, even playing with the University of San Diego Jazz Ensemble at the age of 13. At Mt. Carmel High School, Ian continued to grow as a musician playing featured solos on the school’s 2015 and 2016 records, while also earning the Louis Armstrong and John Philip Sousa Awards. Ian completed his high school career playing principal in the California All-State Symphony Orchestra and touring Japan as lead trombonist of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
With the Temple Big Band, Ian has played at venues such as the JEN Conference, Midwest Clinic, Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall and Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club, Appel Room, Alice Tully hall, and Rose Hall where they won the inaugural Jack Rudin competition in 2020 against the top jazz schools in the country. In 2022, at the 2nd Jack Rudin competition Ian received a solo award given by Wynton Marsalis. Ian performed 4 years with the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and The Kennedy Center. In 2018 Ian was one of 11 selected from a national pool of hundreds of applicants to be a winner of the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition where he played a solo performance in Indianapolis for an audience of over 2000 people. In 2019 and 2021 Ian was selected as one of only 3 finalists in the prestigious Jazz Soloist competition of the American Trombone Workshop. In 2021, Ian was selected as a finalist for the highly competitive International Trombone Association Carl Fontana Competition.
Ian was nominated for 2 Grammy awards in 2020 along with many fellow Temple students for their record Constant Renaissance by Vince Mendoza. In addition to this, Ian has appeared on several records including Triniece Robinson’s “All or Nothing” (2021), Temple University Big Band’s “Covid Sessions: A Social Call” (2020), Steve Fydick’s big band record (Not yet released), Kalen Allen’s “For Christmas Sake!” (2020). Throughout his career Ian has shared the stage with many of the top artist in the industry including Dick Oatts, Christian McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, Arturo Sandoval, Wycliffe Gordon, Delfeyo Marsalis, Marshall Gilkes, Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano, John Clayton, John Faddis, and more.
Currently, Ian teaches private lessons and directs jazz ensembles at the University of Pennsylvania. He also teaches private lessons through his online lesson studio as well as in person lessons out of his home studio. Ian is a score engraver for the educational software company MusicFirst. As a freelance trombonist, Ian plays frequently in the Philadelphia area with many different bands and in a wide variety of genres.