Andy Omdahl

Andy Omdahl has distinguished himself as a top call lead and jazz trumpet player and is very active throughout the Pacific northwest. He began trumpet playing in 1968 while in New York. In Southern California he pursued study with Claude Gordon from 1971-1978. He was a weekly student of Claude’s for seven years.

Andy is a twenty-one year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps music program where he was a trumpet instrumentalist at the Marine Band, El Toro in Anaheim. He was selected as a trumpet instructor at the Armed Forces School of Music where he taught for six years. Andy became a warrant officer, band officer leading the Marine Band in El Toro, CA and the Marine Band in New Orleans. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1996 at the rank of captain.

Always playing, Andy is sought after for his lead, section playing and jazz skills. He has performed for the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, many R&B acts, Broadway touring shows and many celebrity acts from Frankie Avalon, Bernadette Peters, Wayne Newton, Don Rickles, Frank Foster, Arturo Sandoval, Pete Christleibe, Tom Scott, Poncho Sanchez, Milt Hinton, O’Jays, Temptations, Earl Klugh, Quincy Jones, John Clayton, Josh Groban, James Ingram to name a few. Andy worked as a lead trumpet player and musical director with several cruise lines before making Olympia, Washington his home in 1999.

Andy holds the position of 1st trumpet for the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, a premier northwest big band, and is a member of “Nearly Dan” a twelve-piece group performing the music of Steely Dan. He is a regular participant of the annual Jazz Port Townsend in addition to performing in countless shows and concerts throughout the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Along with his hectic performance schedule, Andy maintains an ambitious teaching roster reinforcing the teachings of Claude Gordon.

Andy describes the new Bach Stradivarius commercial trumpet LT1901B large bore (.462) as one of the finest additions to the current line of professional trumpets. It has the legendary Bach feel and sound, but really opens up when pushed! With a great horn like this, Andy continues to be a major force in the musical scene of the Pacific northwest.