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, Michel Camilo Big Band, the Rufus Reid Large Ensemble and the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. She has
performed and toured with artists and ensembles including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Ron Carter Great Big Band, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Mingus Band, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Paquito D’Riviera, Gladys Knight, Frank Foster, Bill Cosby, Slide Hampton, George Gruntz, the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Dianne Reeves and many others. 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 Twenty-Five Year Anniversary Special on NBC.
Tanya’s accomplishments as a lead trumpet player also keep her in demand. She has played lead in numerous bands including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Paquito D’Rivera and the United Nations Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the the Roy Hargrove Big Band, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, the Rufus Reid Large Ensemble, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Jimmy Heath’s Queens Jazz Orchestra, the Cab Calloway Orchestra, and the Frank Foster Loud
Minority Big Band. Tanya is currently the Chair of the Brass Department at Berklee College of Music, former assistant professor of lead trumpet at University of North Texas, former adjunct faculty at Temple University and The New School University of New York City. She regularly performs masterclasses and has been a clinician and adjudicator at numerous festivals domestic and abroad.