Daily Inspiration: Meet Brandon Samuels

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Samuels.

Hi Brandon, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my musical journey young playing drums in St. Luke Holy Baptist Church at 3 years old. That continued on until 6th grade (11 years old) when we moved on from my parent’s home church to a new place (Lakewood Church International), where there was no need for even a young drummer as there was no youth choir like the previous church. However back during 4th grade when we were finally allowed to join the band, I picked up the trumpet because I had already shown experience in percussion. I like to think of this moment almost like a passing of the torch to the next instrument that would become my primary for life. Hughes Middle School was next up for grades 6 through 8, and this was around the time I started really connecting with the trumpet. My elementary school (Grace Brethren then, Intellectual Virtues Academy now) helped to introduce me to the instrument, but being in various middle school symphonic bands, full orchestra, jazz band, and even starting private lessons near the end of my 7th grade year helped excel my natural playing ability and hone in on technique. I was fortuitous to have my parents fund my private lessons for a few years and a little into high school (along with transportation to lots of concerts) with my first professional trumpet teacher Joan Larue. She made sure to have me work on my classical technique and to never avoid the hard work on the horn. Those lessons helped me audition for and get into Long Beach Polytechnic High School’s top various music programs. I was grateful for my music teachers in high school (Andy Osman and Chris Stevens) as they never hesitated to show us the professional side of music right at the start of 9th grade. There was a need for trumpet players in different areas so I immediately was tested to see if I could handle pro music not even halfway through my 9th grade year. Before I could blink I was playing in Jazz A2 (the second to the top big band), Symphonic Winds (top classical band), Marching Band, Full Orchestra (winds, brass, and strings), and even Jazz Combo. By 10th grade I was in Jazz A (very top big band) and playing in all of the ensembles of before with more workload. My junior year I got accepted into the All-Southern SCSBOA Bands for Jazz and my senior year I got into the classical side. Although my classical technique was valuable in generating skill on the trumpet, my interest further grew towards Black American Music/Jazz. Each year I was grateful to our director Chris Stevens for exposing us to high levels of playing at plenty of jazz festivals, but I can recall being the most excited for the Reno Jazz Festival. Each year schools would gather and perform with each other and be placed in ranking. Although the goal was not about winning it all, it was critical that we were placed on a stage where we had to prepare our own set of music and play it for a random crowd of people, as well as judges ranking our performances. I was ecstatic my senior year to see my own growth alongside peers invisible and visible as our jazz combo won 3rd place in the top combo division. After graduation in 2017 with honors, I got into the University of California, Irvine. I went in undeclared and it took a while for me to finally land on Education Sciences for my major, which I graduated with the Summer of 2022. While at UC Irvine I made sure to continue to play and grow through music although I was not a major. Bands such as the UCI Jazz Orchestra and the UCI Pep Band helped to keep my trumpet ability strong and leave room to find my sound. Instructors such as Kei Akagi helped reassure my value in this art form. After coming back to the LA area and my home town of Long Beach as “butta b”, I have been blessed to teach, play a wide variety of gigs and productions, and record with various artists. These include Thelma Houston, Norman Carter of the Delfonics, Def Sound, Tru Sound, Naomi Renae, Torrence Brannon Reece, ICYOLA, Brassroots District, The Cortége, The World Stage Big Band, Jazz Angels, and more. As an artist the most important part of the journey in this present time is getting my own compositions and work out to the world, so my album is most definitely on the way. As I work towards my Masters Degree next, so will be my first full compositional work rooted in black music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve always had health issues since I was young, from allergies and asthma to having my first 2-3 surgeries before I turned 7, and a chronic migraine period from the middle of 6th grade to 7th. I’ve worked through them but recently when college was occurring (2021) I found later on that I was dealing with early onset of severe fibromyalgia. The amount of stress in my body and mind was excessive while dealing with unfortunate issues of food instability, housing issues, physical strain from work injury, and trying to maintain my grades for school all without reliable funds or transportation. I definitely realized quickly that being away from my purpose of music fully like I had been before also took a toll on my body. Music became a real medicine in these difficult moments where I would create new ideas for songs and compositions or even just work on my improvisational skill on the trumpet to push my mind, body, and spirit to levels I didn’t feel before. I have always been grateful to God for the gift, but I definitely learned in these moments that being separated from the gift will make it worse forsure. Being connected to something like this is divine, and that can make the struggles lesser and lesser as we exercise the gift in the right way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in making people feel good when I play one single note or whether I play various amounts of notes. I tend to resonate with people more than a lot of horn players just because of my perception and ability to add just the right amount of touch to each musical moment, it’s one of the reasons why I go by “butta b”. Butter whether it’s plant based or dairy based is an essential ingredient to nearly every dish. I know I can’t make my peach cobbler without butter, it would instantly taste like something is missing. That’s why I’m “butta b”, my sound is distinctive and growing each day. As for work I am grateful to gig here and there whether it is for a production, another artist, or a wedding, but I am transitioning more towards an artist work approach, which is a little different than your average working musician at all levels. A lot more learning new things, aiming towards consistently being a student, writing compositions and recording, researching how to get grants to fund tour or projects, you name it. Even picking up part-time work that is disabled friendly is essential during this time especially living in this country as you know. Being a disabled artist, sometimes the work is intentionally resting when it is vital. Grateful for all of this work as it all pushes me to aim to heights never achieved the day before.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Grateful to my parents for their initial imprint on seeing my gifts. I am grateful to Andy Osman (rest in peace) and Chris Stevens for pushing my gifts. I am grateful for Emile Martinez for helping me not only recognize both, but showing me that there is more to be done to give my gifts back to others and share what I have learned with the next generation of musicians and artists. More people that showed support and love include my younger brother Justin, my good friends Naomi Renae, Cece, Def, many more to list but I am grateful for any kind words at any point that pushed me to keep my own fire going and empower myself through tough times.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandon.samuels24?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.samuels.52012?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr

Image Credits
Fábio Kizambo