Tanya Darby

Chair
Affiliated Departments
Brass
Faculty Bio E-Mail
tdarby@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-6147

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Seaside, California, native Tanya Darby is a current and veteran member of such groups as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Michel Camilo Big Band, and the Rufus Reid Large Ensemble, among others. She has performed and toured with artists such as Dianne Reeves, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Paquito D’Rivera, and Gladys Knight, and ensembles including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Ron Carter Great Big Band, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the Mingus Big Band. She has appeared on the television show BET on Jazz as part of the T.S. Monk Sextet and performed with Aretha Franklin as part of the "Arista Records' 25th Year Anniversary Special" on NBC. 

Darby’s accomplishments as a lead trumpet player keep her in demand. She has played lead in numerous bands including Paquito D’Rivera and the United Nations Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, and Jimmy Heath’s Queens Jazz Orchestra, among many others.

An experienced educator, Darby is a former assistant professor of lead trumpet at the University of North Texas. She has also served as adjunct faculty at Temple University and the New School University of New York City. 

Career Highlights
  • Played with various groups and artists including the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, and Terri Lyne Carrington, among many others
  • Grammy nominations include OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (2014), Quite Pride: A Suite for Large Ensemble with Rufus Reid (2011), and Live and In Clave with Bobby Sanabria (1996)
Education
  • M.M., Rutgers University, jazz performance
  • B.M., Manhattan School of Music, jazz performance
In Their Own Words

"My hope is for any students I work with to not only be challenged to strive, but to come away encouraged and excited about music." 

"My professional background has afforded me the opportunity to continue the lineage of education and to pass on the invaluable education and life experience I've been blessed to receive from my mentors."

"Berklee's unparalleled musical and cultural diversity make the experience here beautifully unique. Berklee offers an incredibly comprehensive curriculum and resources that are unmatched elsewhere. We are an institution that not only honors tradition, but also provides a progressive environment in which students are encouraged to find their voice in the future of music." 

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