On April 16, 2021, 22 of the advocates, activists and altruists from across the U.S. who the Jazz Journalists Association hailed as Jazz Heroes joined a Zoom town hall produced by Bret “JazzVideoGuy” Primack. Here is what 2021 Jazz Hero Mario Guarneri of the San Francisco Bay Area in California had to say.
Mario Guarneri, founder of Jazz in the Neighborhood was born and raise din the San Francisco Bay Area. He started trumpet lessons at the age of eight with Eddie Smith, of Earl “Fatha” Hines’ band, a mentor he says ” put me on the path to being a musician who plays trumpet.” Mario defines his career as “musician” to involve more than simply making sounds, through he’s done that prolifically and prodigiously in symphony orchestras, circus bands, and jazz groups since he joined the Musicians Union when he was 13 (the same year he sat in with Louis Armstrong at a concert in Berkeley).
