Before They Ever Knew He Was Coming! John Douglas is your Funk specialist, your Acid- and Latin-Jazz All-star, and a seasoned Be-Bop professional. With dexterous ease, he rips the high notes, caresses the low notes, and rocks the melodic scales in between â€" all without compromise on clarity or tonal quality.

Again and again, his exclusive trumpet style is described as "hefty�, “technically accomplished,"

performance career began while studying at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. During these years, John collaborated with three players to form The Tracy Science Quartet. Since that inception, keyboardist Craig Taborn, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and bassist Trent Mitchell have earned their own notable levels of musical recognition and achievement. In Detroit, MI in 1991, John formulated the first John Douglas Quartet, with Julian Van Slyke on drums, T.J. Bond on bass, and Kelvin Sholar on keyboards. Then, in 1996, John and five players embraced a new musical era called Jazzhead - arguably one the most influential modern jazz bands from the Midwest in recent years. The monstrous success of Jazzhead's self-entitled debut recording, co-produced by ex-Parliament sideman Larry Fratangelo, earned the group 1999's Detroit Music Award for Best Jazz Recording. For extra measure, JazzHead swept that year's Detroit Music Awards for Best Modern Jazz Group and Best Jazz Group Deserving Wider Recognition, which they snatched again in 1998.

As the music and band evolved, Jazzhead was nominated for Best Modern Jazz Group in 1999 and 2000 and later received the 2002 Detroit Music Award for Best Modern Jazz Group! For over 10 years, John Douglas and Jazzhead’s pioneering spirit continues to thrive as they perform in venues in the U.S. and Canada.

Douglas’ dynamic range of sound and space has been documented on a variety of television, news magazine, and radio programs and witnessed at renowned venues across the globe. John has performed with Francisco Mora, Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), and Carl Craig

(Planet-E) at the 2003 North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. In 2004, he toured with Theo Parrish and the Rotating Assembly for the Import Music Festival and a ParaDisco appearance in Amsterdam. Also in 2004, he played the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland with celebrated Blues Diva Bettye LaVette. John Douglas has performed with legends like the The Machito Orchestra, Los Munequitos De Matanzas, and Allan Barnes and Primetime (Saxophonist from Donald Byrd’s Blackbirds), and worked extensively with Grammy-Nominated Straight Ahead. He has played alongside and studied with jazz greats such as Marcus Belgrave, Francisco Mora, Larry Smith, Kevin Good (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) and P-Funk’s Larry Frantangelo and toured nation-wide with R&B legends like The Chi-lites, The Stylistics, and The Dramatics.

His album recordings include performances with Althea Rene, Francisco Mora, Theo Parrish, and The Dramatics.

Even as the times change, so has Douglas’ exploration of new possibilities and creative endeavors. In 2006, John explores new dimensions with a pulsating line-up of jazz musicians to form the John Douglas Quartet. Playing his originals, this dream team consists of T. Butter Hawkins on drums, Damon Warmack on bass, and Mike Jellick on keyboards. Best of all, just as the group’s powerful sounds, skills, and stamina indulges the senses, John provides an insinuating energy that lights audience’s minds on fire -- before they ever knew he was coming!