Nate Birkey

Born in 1962, Nate Birkey spent his early childhood in South Bend, Indiana before moving to Colorado at age 10. He began studying piano at age six, but soon picked up the trumpet after discovering his father’s old cornet. Nate attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied Jazz performance and composition and later went on to study classical trumpet and composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Birkey has released seven albums for the California-based Household Ink Records. With the 2008 releases of Almost Home and Christmas, his first recordings made with his New York City quintet of saxophonist Sal Giorgianni, pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Tony Marino and drummer Marko Marcinko, Birkey proves to be a fluid improviser and vocalist of understated grace. Nate has recently received awards from the Santa Barbara Arts Fund and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.