Trumpeter James Suggs – a Community Treasure
By Edward Craig
You could be almost anywhere in St. Petersburg these days and spot local musician and music educator extraordinaire James Suggs doing his thing. During this past holiday season he was like the jazz version of Elf on a Shelf.
You might see him performing at specialty concerts in Old Northeast at The Palladium, or downtown at the Ale and Witch, or in Grand Central at Studio Public House on Central, or teaching trumpet at St. Pete College, or leading student jazz ensembles at USF. You might bump into him across the bay at nightclubs in Tampa, or even down in Naples, where he supports featured headliner musicians from places like New York City once a month for their “Artis Naples” series.
Even more improbably, you might be dozing off in a church pew on Sunday morning only to be awakened by the sweet sound of his golden trumpet, as he sometimes makes guest appearances performing sacred music in area churches. He seems to be everywhere all at once, and every place he goes, in every season, people enjoy his rich, brassy sound, his fresh jazz improvisation, his handsome face, and his ebullient personality.
James, like so many of us, is not originally from Florida. He was born in Rochester, NY and raised in Harrisburg, PA. He took up the trumpet at age 9. Not out of a love of music so much as to sit next to a friend in the horn section–then had a life-changing event attending a Wynton Marsalis concert as a youngster. He asked to meet the legendary performer and Pulitzer Prize-winning educator during the intermission and was somehow granted a private audience with him. They talked and talked about the instrument, with Marsalis giving his own trumpet to young James to play, and hands being placed on diaphragms to feel subtle variations in breathing, until Suggs understood what the great man was trying to teach him, and handlers had to whisk Marsalis back onto the stage to finish the show. By the time the impromptu private lesson was finally finished James had become a true jazz trumpet aficionado and has been one ever since.
After that his maturation as a musician took on a new and loftier arc. At the tender age of sixteen, James was selected to tour through Europe with The Continental Singers, a contemporary Christian group, accumulating passport stamps in Switzerland, Germany, and Holland. Then, as a junior at Youngstown State University in Ohio, he was chosen to perform with a jazz combo making appearances at music conservatories in Beijing, China. Among his other early accomplishments, he performed on Norwegian and Royal Caribbean Cruise ships for several years in his early 20s, had stints with the famed Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, and followed that up with eight years playing, teaching, and touring in and around Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he also became a fluent Spanish speaker.
He has obviously seen a lot already at 43 years of age, having performed alongside big-name jazz stars like Kenny Burrell, Jason Marsalis (younger brother of Wynton), Wycliffe Gordon, and Chuck Mangione in famous clubs everywhere from New York to San Francisco to London. But he particularly liked what he saw here in St. Petersburg and decided to give it a long look. He sniffed out local jam sessions and got to know the local jazz community playing in places like Ruby’s Elixir on Thursdays and The Hangar on Mondays. Getting involved in the local academic scene also enlarged his footprint. In 2015 he was named Best of the Bay’s “Best Jazz Transplant,” and in 2018 he received his master’s degree in jazz performance from USF School of Music. St. Petersburg became his permanent home, to such a degree that his parents followed him here and aren’t hard to spot cheering him on wherever he plays.
When asked about the state of the jazz community here in St. Pete, James, like many of us, admitted to some concern about music venues being lost to high commercial rents, and buildings with sentimental (if not historical) significance being torn down willy-nilly and replaced by shiny skyscrapers. But he nonetheless remains optimistic about the local music scene in general, and in particular about the quality of local talent. Steady gigs beloved by local jazz fanatics like his Sunday series at the now defunct Independent on Central have been replaced by others like Sola Bistro on St. Pete Beach every other Wednesday. And as for the performance level, he remarks, “I love it when friends from New York City or Chicago come here and can hardly believe the caliber of musicians in the area. It makes me proud to be a part of it.”
One thing is certain, so long as Suggs remains involved in the local jazz scene it will be vibrant and entertaining. Best of all, through his work at USF School of Music he is doing us all the favor of training his own eventual replacements. But that’s a story for another day. For now, let’s all treasure our good fortune in having an artist of his rare quality calling our home his home.
