| My name is Kenneth Roe, most folks call me Ken or Kenny. I was born in New York City in 1965. My parents moved to New Jersey for a brief time then moved to Connecticut. I started playing guitar in the 3rd grade and heard Jack Sheldon on television and decided I wanted to play trumpet.
I did the whole routine, joined the school band, private lessons, etc. Guitar kind of fizzled out. One day I'll get back to it. After high school I tried the part time college thing and trying to freelance. It wasn't happening and I was really down about playing the horn. I visited my local Army recruiter and signed up to be an M1 Abrams tank crewman. I put the horn down, went to Fort Knox then off to Germany. While in Germany I was sent to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It was during this time I realized playing trumpet wasn't so bad afterall.
I finished my hitch, started playing again and began studying with Roger Murtha. I joined the local Army Reserve Band (I met my wife in this band-she was playing clarinet and sax) and decided to go back to school. Roger sent me to study with Daniel Patrylak so I went to the University of Connecticut.
After UCONN I went on to study with William Vacchiano and Joe Mosello. My career took off from there. Two years ago my wife and I adopted a 13 year old boy. I am extremely fortunate to have a great family and to be able to provide for them playing the trumpet.
Thanks to everyone for making this board a great hang!
Kenny |