College of Music

Assistant Professor Tanya Darby teaches lead trumpet lessons and Introduction to Jazz Recordings and directs the Three O'Clock Lab Band. She earned a master's degree in Jazz Performance from Rutgers University in 2012 and a bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in 1998. Formerly an adjunct faculty member at Temple University and The New School University, she is a current member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Roy Hargrove Big Band, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Ron Carter’s Great Big Band, Michel Camilo Big Band, the Rufus Reid Large Ensemble and the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. She has performed and toured with artists and ensembles including The Count Basie Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, The Mingus Band, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Paquito D’Riviera, Gladys Knight, Frank Foster, Bill Cosby, Slide Hampton, George Gruntz, the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Dianne Reeves and many others. She has appeared on the television show “BET on Jazz” as part of the T.S. Monk Sextet and performed with Aretha Franklin as part of the Arista Records Twenty-Five Year Anniversary Special on NBC.

Tanya’s accomplishments as a lead trumpet player keep her in demand. She has played lead in numerous bands including Paquito D’Rivera and the United Nations Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, the Count Basie Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, the Rufus Reid Large Ensemble, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Jimmy Heath’s Queens Jazz Orchestra, the Cab Calloway Orchestra, and the Frank Foster Loud Minority Big Band.

She can be heard on these recent CD releases: Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band, "Mother's Touch" (2014); Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Grammy nominated "Over Time - The Music of Bob Brookmeyer" (2014) and "Forever Lasting - Live in Tokyo"; DIVA Jazz Orchestra, "A Swingin' Life"; Rufus Reid, Grammy nominated "Quiet Pride: A Suite for Large Ensemble."