New England native Chris Klaxton has developed a reputation as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, an imaginative composer, and an effective educator. With degrees in both classical and jazz trumpet, Klaxton has received a rich and varied education, studying with: Brian Lynch, Terence Blanchard, Jason Carder, Dr. Robert Stibler, Stephen Guerra, Whit Sidener, and Gary Lindsay.

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Perhaps the most significant musical relationship of Klaxton’s career is that with famed trumpeter, Clark Terry. Years of study, several years as valet / travel manager, and 15 years of friendship with Clark, has left Chris saturated with lessons and anecdotes (musical and otherwise). Chris is proud to pass on a repertoire unique to Clark, a system of phrasing and rhythmic pronunciation, and a means of conveyance handed down directly from one of the founding fathers of the music.

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As a performer, Klaxton contributes trumpet, keyboards, guitar, and percussion to a variety of projects running the stylistic gamut. His self-led 8-piece ensemble has recorded two albums of original music (STARCODE and COLLAGE) which display Klaxton’s eclectic palette, a unique approach to the jazz tradition, and a fertile imagination.

In 2015 Klaxton founded OURBIGBAND, a New England-based large ensemble dedicated to performing new music. The band’s 2016 collaboration with famed trumpeter / composer, Dave Douglas, featured a program of Douglas’ large ensemble music as well as a premiere of Self Portrait in Four Dimensions (dedicated to Charles Mingus).

Post-pandemic life has found Klaxton embracing the duo format more than ever before. One such collaboration is the improvising duo Time & Mercy, featuring pianist Mike Effenberger alongside Klaxton's horn. As gigging jazz musicians holding long-standing positions as UCC church choir directors, both Mike and Chris have found a host of spirituals and hymns to be as fertile a landscape for rearrangement and improvisation as any American Songbook standard. Time & Mercy creates a sacred space all its own by embracing traditional religious music through a range of styles native to gospel, jazz, and the avant garde. T&M is available for performances OR performance / lecture presentations, discussing the history of improvisation in the church, the intersection of the sacred and secular, Black American Music, and the duo's musical arranging process.

Equal to Klaxton’s passion for performing is a commitment to education. On faculty at the University of New Hampshire, Longy School of Music at Bard College, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC), and maintaining a private home studio, Klaxton teaches jazz trumpet, classical trumpet, jazz piano, composition, theory, and coaches ensembles. He is also an in demand clinician, adjudicator, is available for private instruction, and serves as choir director for First Parish Federated Church in South Berwick, Maine.