Medicine is my Calling but Music is my Passion. I am a Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist and Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University who spends most of my free time playing trombone. Rehearsals and performances with the Moonlighters and Establishment big bands, Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and now MCBE keep me busy. I also founded and lead a large trombone choir, Bone Therapy (bonetherapy.org), that rehearses and performs regularly. I consider myself fortunate to have played with and learned from some outstanding musicians growing up in Ohio and here in Music City. Involvement in the International Trombone Association has been rewarding and led to co-hosting the 40th anniversary International Trombone Festival here in Nashville, TN in 2011.
Originally from Iowa, Reid Clagett started playing trombone at an early age. After achieving many accomplishments as a young musician he eventually earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Iowa State University in 2013. While at Iowa State he was a winner of the Iowa State University Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, a semi-finalist for the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, and participated in the Southeast Trombone Symposium. He has also had the opportunity to perform in Europe with multiple ensembles in his career. Reid currently plays bass trombone in the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and the Music City Brass Ensemble and has been called to record in various studios around the Nashville area.
Reid is an active bass guitarist, and has played in a wide range of genres with bands such as 7th Generation, Deadnote, The Euclids, Jon Reynolds and The Aches, and Jon Worthy. He currently plays in Year of October and Aconundrum. He is endorsed by Audiozone Amplifier Company.
Brian Entwistle is a freelance bass trombonist and teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. His experiences and skills extend all across the musical world, including solo performance, orchestral performances, jazz and commercial playing, and teaching.
As a freelancer, Brian is a frequent recording artist with Nashville Music Scoring at the Ocean Way studio. He has recorded music for several video game and movie scores; notable examples include the Call of Duty franchise, Destiny 2, and Spider-Man (2018). As a jazz artist, he has performed with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, the Tennessee Jazz Collective, the Nashville Jazz Composer’s Collective, and Tim Rushlow and his Big Band.
Brian is regularly called as a sub to various orchestras in the Southeast United States. He has performed with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony, under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also performed with the National Repertory Orchestra of Colorado.
As a soloist, Brian has been a finalist for several competitions, including the American Trombone Workshop National Solo Competition, the International Trombone Association’s George Roberts Competition, and the ITA’s Donald Yaxley Competition. He has also appeared as a guest soloist with the University of Oklahoma Trombone Choir.
Brian holds a degree from Vanderbilt University (BM 2016). His primary teachers have been Jeremy Wilson and Gerald Felker.
Jonathan Hooper was Director of Bands for 25 years at Tarleton State University. He has been a guest clinician, conductor, performer, and adjudicator throughout the United States, and Europe, and has performed at the Montreux, Prague, and Vienna Jazz Festivals. As a musical arranger and composer, he has over 200 titles. Now retired, he is a consultant for both Conn-Selmer and the London New Year’s Day Parade, and plays his bass trombone every chance he gets. His degrees are from Abilene Christian University and East Texas State University.
Charles Jenkins is a native Texan and a recent transplant to Nashville. He is a graduate of Baylor University with a degree in music education, where he studied trombone under Dr. David Gier and conducting with Michael Haithcock. He taught band in the Texas public schools for 15 years, mostly in the East Texas area. After leaving the teaching profession, he moved to another career in the insurance industry that he continues today. He has performed with a number of Texas community music groups such as the East Texas Symphonic Band, the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble, and the Waterloo Wind Band.
While recently living in the Philadelphia, PA area, he also performed with the Montgomery County Community Band, recent winners of the Sudler Silver Scroll from the John Phillip Sousa Foundation. In addition to performing with Music City Brass Ensemble, Charles also performs with the W.O. Smith Community Orchestra and Bone Therapy.
A Nashville native, alumnus of the University of Louisville, Aspen Music Festival and the New College Music Festival, Wes Ramsay has built a career as performer, composer, publisher and teacher. Wes serves as Representative of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (London UK), and is an active member of American Choral Directors Association, International Trombone Association, and the American Federation of Musicians. He is a writer and publisher member of ASCAP and serves as publisher for August Press (ASCAP) and Hidebound Music (BMI), both administered by BMG Rights Management.
A native of the south Chicago suburbs, Rob Sherrill covered high school sports for over a decade at the Chicago Sun-Times as part of a 40-year media career. He remains active as an analyst of high school wrestling, both in Illinois and nationally, as an author and blogger.
A member of the Bone Therapy trombone choir and the Moonlighters Big Band, Rob otherwise embraces his role as Nashville’s bass trombone rehearsal sub. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Penn State University.
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Alex Snyder has been in Nashville since 2013. He is currently a band director at Grassland Middle School in Franklin, Tennessee, and was named a CMA Music Teacher of Excellence in 2016. He holds a Bachelors degree from Youngstown State University, and a Masters of Music from Carnegie Mellon University where he studied with Peter Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Alex also performs with the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and Bone Therapy Trombone Choir.
