Nickolas Kaplan Quintet

Nickolas Kaplan is a Chicago-born and -based trumpeter, composer, arranger, and educator. A recent graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with his Master of Arts in Jazz Performance, Nickolas worked as a Jazz Trumpet Graduate Assistant, teaching private lessons and co-directing the U of I Jazz Band III, for which he was named to University of Illinois’ List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students. Nickolas has studied with such teachers as Tito Carillo, Victor Garcia, Bruce Daugherty, Marques Carroll, Chip McNeill, and Pat Harbison; and played with such guest artists and clinicians as Orbert Davis, Wayne Bergeron, Mike Tomaro, Jon Faddis, Ramsey Lewis, Steve Davis, Michael Mwenso, Edu Ribiero, Eric Richards, Jeff Coffin, and the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section. As an arranger, Nickolas has penned over 100 arrangements for big band, studio orchestra, vocal jazz ensemble, and other groups, ranging from jazz, hip hop, neo-soul, rock,…