Best-known for playing trumpet with Hunters and Collectors, Jack Howard is also a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Along the way, he’s also played with The Living End, The Violent Femmes, Rodriguez, The Break, You Am I, Little Red, Pete Murray and a host of others.
Jack has been described as “one of the great quiet achievers of Australian music” and is the only trumpeter in the ARIA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. He is also in high demand as session muso and he is an instigator of, and a creative force behind many varied musical projects. From his own band The Long Lost Brothers and his very successful Epic Brass and Bacharach & Beyond shows to his smaller duos and trios, Jack is a driver and employer for many working musicians in Melbourne. He is a great supporter of the local St. Kilda music scene and has been a generous and selfless contributor to the recordings and live performances of many acts.
Jack continues to perform with Hunters and Collectors and in 2017, he toured the world with Midnight Oil as their trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist. Over the last twenty years he has recorded and released numerous albums in his own name. Jack also teaches trumpet at Wesley College in Melbourne, and he has just written his first book released late 2020 along with a new album Dog Songs.
“I was first involved in Make Music Day in our unholy COVID year of 2020. It fell between Melbourne lockdowns and my school band, Wesley Jazz Ensemble, had an opportunity to record and film one of our original charts (https://youtu.be/jNi1G3MXLuE) For all of us, the sheer relief of getting back to the simple pleasure of making music with others was very powerful. And I think it encaptulated everything that Make Music Day stands for. The fundamental love and joy joy of making music away from all the big ambitions and dreams of the music business. Make Music Day provides and inspires that notion and reminds us all of why we stuck at this lije in the first place”.