World-class jazz trumpet player TOM PERON delights listeners with his warm, full-bodied

tones and flawless articulation. He was inspired and encouraged by his father who played

trumpet with the Sacramento (California) Symphony for 25 years.

In 1982, Peron joined a group led by the extraordinary pianist Jessica Williams, one of his

strongest boosters. She introduced him to a fiery San Francisco drummer who had worked with

her for years — Bud Spangler. Peron and Spangler felt a mutual rapport and respect as they

began performing together. “It was love at first note,” Spangler recalls.

With John Wiitala on bass and Jessica Williams on piano, Peron and Spangler recorded their

debut album as leaders, Interplay, released by Monarch Records in 1994. It is a swinging mix of

standards composed by such legends as Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and George Gershwin,

plus two Tom Peron originals. It quickly climbed the Gavin radio charts and was one of

Monarch’s best sellers.

Playing “straight-ahead jazz for the 21st Century” the Peron/Spangler group draws inspiration

from legendary collaborations of jazz horn players and drummers such as Clifford Brown and

Max Roach; the John Coltrane Quartet with Elvin Jones; and Miles Davis with his procession of

fine drummers — Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb and Tony Williams.

Jazz journalist Scott Yanow proclaims, “The conclusion one reaches after listening to the

stimulating music of the Tom Peron/Bud Spangler Quartet is that there is still plenty of life to be

found in straight-ahead jazz.” Alex Henderson, reviewing Interplay in JazzIz: “...this unit

satisfies...A very warm and melody-conscious improviser, Peron brings to mind the Miles Davis

or Chet Baker school of heartfelt lyricism, but he has obviously absorbed the ideas of brassier

trumpeters like Kenny Dorham and Clifford Brown as well.”

Peron has performed throughout Northern California for almost thirty years. He opened for

Stanley Clark and George Duke in Sacramento, performed with pianist Smith Dobson at Garden

City in San Jose, has been a featured player at the Cotati, California Jass Festival, and has played

the Great American Music Hall and Kimball’s in San Francisco. He co-led the Peron/Spangler

Quartet at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the San Jose Jazz Festival, the Sacramento Jazz Festival,

KRML’s jazz store in Carmel, Yoshi’s, Pearl’s Heart & Soul, Filoli, and the Museum of Modern

Art, all in San Francisco, and numerous other venues in the San Francisco and Sacramento area.

The quartet was a huge crowd-pleaser in front of 7,500 enthusiastic Jazz fans on the main stage

of the 1996 Montreux-Detroit festival.

Peron is trumpeter on Joe Gilman’s Treasure Chest (Timeless Records) and on vocalist Kitty

Margolis’ Evolution (Madcat Records), both CDs featuring Joe Henderson, and a special guest

on guitarist Mimi Fox’s Turtle Logic (Monarch Records).

In 1996, Monarch released Peron/Spangler’s second CD, titled Dedication since each of the

four standards and five originals were dedicated to someone inspirational to the leaders. Peron

composed four of the nine cuts, dedicating them to members of his family and the late great

trumpet virtuoso, Rafael Mendez, who was a close friend of Tom’s family.

Phil Elwood, music critic for the San Francisco Examiner, called attention to a second

meaning for the CD’s title: “...the dedication of all the performing instrumentalists is apparent

throughout.” He wrote, “As for trumpeter/composer Peron, one is encouraged to say, ‘just listen,’

and move on — astonished at his playing, versatility, imagination and technical facility. Master

of his horn, with ‘good ears,’ as Lester Young would have said, Peron has created his own style,

his own sound, out of jazz roots. Very few trumpeters out there are Peron’s equal, let alone his

better.”

Tom Peron, trumpeter-composer-teacher, possesses rare talents. With his impassioned playing

and impeccable technique, he is destined to join the legends.

Tom Peron has been giving private trumpet instruction for twenty-eight years, and is currently

teaching at Watermelon Music in Davis California. In Sacramento, Peron also taught Jazz

Ensemble at John F. Kennedy High School from 1995-1997 and Rio Americano from 1999-

2003.