Gary Guthman, originally from Portland, Oregon, started his career at the age of nine. As a young teen, Gary was a member of the nationally acclaimed "Seldom Six" Dixieland Band, comprised of 12 to 14 years old who traveled the United States performing stage shows and conventions, playing, singing, and tap-dancing all the way. Throughout Gary's high school and college years, he performed with jazz and rock and roll bands and, at 17 years old, auditioned for the acclaimed Portland (Oregon) Youth Orchestra, the oldest of its kind in the United States.
Gary played principal trumpet and, in his last year with the Portland Junior Symphony (now the Portland Youth Orchestra), performed as a soloist with the orchestra and is the only trumpet player in its history (to date) to achieve that acclaim.
Mr. Guthman studied classical trumpet for the first 15 of his playing years. His teachers were Jack Dalby, Joyce Johnson, James Smith, and the recently retired (after 38 years!) Principal trumpet of the Oregon Symphony – Fred Sautter.
After attending Portland State University, Gary did short stints with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (led by Lee Castle), Stan Kenton Orchestra, Don Ellis Orchestra, and the Louis Bellson Orchestra.
In the early 1980s, Gary Guthman moved to Canada. Within the next few years, he became known as one of Canada's premier lead and commercial trumpeters, playing on over 100 televised "ITV IN Concert" performances and numerous radio shows, jingles, movie soundtracks, and in concerts. Gary performed on television with Tom Jones and Paul Anka, directed the jazz program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and formed his renowned "Tribute Orchestra."
He worked and collaborated for two consecutive years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Vancouver) on 26 television specials with Tom Jones and 26 television specials with Paul Anka. From 1985 to 1995, he performed and collaborated with ITV Television Studios in Edmonton, Alberta, on 75 one-hour "In Concert" Specials - featuring many of the most famous personalities in show business, including Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sadaka, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and Procol Harem.
He has performed and collaborated with the renowned big bands of Stan Kenton, Louis Bellson, The Dorsey Brothers, Clark Terry, and Doc Severinson. He toured with the Bee Gees in the early 1980s. He has performed and collaborated with Tom Jones, Paul Anka, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Englebert Humperdink, Jack Jones, Paul Williams, Lou Rawls, Connie Stevens, Sergio Mendez, Burt Bacharach, Mitch Miller, Peter Nero, Tony Bennett, Roger Whitaker, Michel Legrand, Anne Murray, and Neil Sadaka.
From 1975 - 1992, Gary Guthman held teaching positions on the Canadian faculties of the University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, Red Deer College, Alberta College, and Grant MacEwan Community College and taught trumpet, brass, ensemble performance, jazz improvisation, orchestration and arranging. Mr. Guthman acted as producer and co-creator at International Canadian events such as the Pacific National Exhibition (Vancouver, British Columbia), Edmonton Klondike Days (Edmonton, Alberta), Canadian National Exhibition (Toronto, Canada), and The Calgary Stampede and Exhibition (Calgary, Alberta).
Gary Guthman, between 1995 and 2014, wrote and orchestrated hundreds of arrangements and compositions in collaboration with some of the best orchestras in the United States and Canada, including, The Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Austin Symphony and the New York Pops Orchestra (Carnegie Hall).
1995 saw the inception of Gary Guthman's hit show "A Tribute to Harry James," followed by the creation of his" Trumpet Greats" in 1998 and "Swingmatism!" in 2004.
Gary Guthman was the musical director and star of the award-winning hit Musical Theater review "Forever Swing," which toured the United States and Canada for 2 -1/2 years from 1999 - 2002 and won a distinguished Canadian "Jesse" Award. During that time, he was Musical Director for Michael Buble.
In 2004, Gary debuted by personal invitation at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, conducted by Skitch Henderson.
Since moving to Central Europe, Gary has given hundreds of concerts with his "Gary Guthman Quartet" and "The New Swing Orchestra," as well as Symphonic Pops concerts.
In 2011, the Polish Radio Music Agency released an album of his original compositions entitled "Solar Eclipse" - the first jazz album recorded by an American artist in the history of Polish Radio. In 2016, the album "Woman in Black" was released (Polish Radio Music Agency), for which he composed the music and lyrics. He is also the music composer of the album "Autoportrety" (Soliton), released in 2019 in tribute to the work of poet Miron Białoszewski. Gary Guthman composed music and lyrics for his three-hour-long musical theatre production of “Letter from Warsaw” (the libretto written by renowned screen playwright Doman Nowakowski), which was premiered in November 2019 on stage at the Warsaw Chamber Opera Hall, the album of which was released on the Soliton label in 2020.
Guthman's symphonic compositions include: "Master and Margarita Suite for Harp and Orchestra," dedicated to the composer's wife (composed and premiered in 2007 and released on the DUX label in 2008), "Concerto Romantico" for Harp and Orchestra (2018) and "Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra" (2020). The album of both concertos was recorded by the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk in 2022 on the DUX label, with soloists Małgorzata Zalewska on harp and the composer himself on trumpet.
The Fall of 2021 saw the premiere of a chamber suite for soprano, flute, cello, and harp (music composed to his 1992 compendium of poems), entitled "The Traveler." In April 2022, his "Concerto for Flute and Orchestra" was premiered by the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra conducted by Piotr Sułkowski with soloist Łukasz Długosz.
August 27, 2023 Gary Guthman’s “Łódź Fantasy,” was premiered in a 45-minute piece composition for symphonic orchestra and choir - a Four-Movement composition musically describing the history of Łódź Poland in it’s 600th Anniversary year. September 9, 2023 saw the premier performance of Mr. Guthman’s “Qui ingreditur sine macula” for symphonic orchestra, especially composed for the Beatification celebration of the Ulma Family.
On September 20, 2023, Gary Guthman’s memoir, “Tootin’ My Own Horn” saw its release in the Polish market by renowned publisher Znak, under the Polish language title “Grając na własną nutę”.
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS as headline soloist
Austin (Texas) Symphony, Portland (Maine) Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Florida (Orlando) Orchestra, Oregon (Portland) Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Symphony of S. E. Texas Irving (Texas), Ft. Myers (Florida) Symphony, Gold Coast (Florida) Symphony, Bismarck Symphony, Allentown (Pa.) Symphony, Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre (Ottawa) Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Regina Symphony, Victoria Symphony Symphony Nova Scotia, Windsor Symphony, Orchestra London, Hamilton (Ontario) Symphony Niagara, Thunder Bay Symphony, Prince George (British Columbia) Symphony, Kamloops Symphony, Vancouver Island (Nanaimo, British Columbia), Symphony, New York Pops.
TELEVISION APPEARANCES as special guest:
Celebrity Review, The Tommy Banks Show, The Palace, The Tom Jones Show, The Paul Anka Show, The Rene Simard Show,Over 50 Canadian ITV "In Concert" Performances.
CELEBRITIES performed with:
Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, Vicki Carr, Aretha Franklin, Vic Damone, Paul Anka, Jack Jones, Paul Williams, Lou Rawls, Ginger Rogers, Dionne Warwick, Frankie Avalon, The Bee Gees, Doc Severinsen, Burt Bacharach, Mitch Miller, Peter Nero, Tony Bennett, Roger Whitaker, Michel LeGrande, Anne Murray, Neil Sadaka, Connie Stevens.
photo: Zarewicz / Karpati
