Randy Sandke

Since emerging in the mid-'80s, Randy Sandke has ranked among jazz's leading swing-oriented trumpeters. His older brother Jordan, a skilled trumpeter in his own right, first exposed Randy to jazz's diverse idioms. In 1968 Sandke launched a rock outfit alongside Michael Brecker that included a horn section and performed at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival. A throat hernia, however, forced him to decline an offer to join Janis Joplin's band. Although surgery resolved the medical issue, diminished confidence prompted Sandke to switch to guitar, which he played professionally in New York for the following ten years. Encouraged to return to the trumpet, he spent five years in Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, collaborated frequently with Bob Wilber, and served in Benny Goodman's final ensemble from 1985 to 1986. Thereafter Sandke performed and recorded with Buck Clayton, Michael Brecker, the Newport All-Stars, Jon Hendricks, Ralph Sutton, Kenny Davern, Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, the World's Greatest Jazz Band, Mel Tormé, and Joe Williams, among numerous others, completing more than twenty European tours. He has also issued several notable leader dates on the Jazzology and Concord labels.