Jacob Garchik

Jacob Garchik, multi-instrumentalist and composer, was born in San Francisco and has lived in New York since 1994, playing trombone in ensembles ranging from jazz and contemporary classical to Balkan brass bands. He has released six albums as a leader including The Heavens: the Atheist Gospel Trombone Album (2012), and co-leads Brooklyn’s Banda de los Muertos.

Since 2006, Garchik has contributed over 115 arrangements and transcriptions for Kronos Quartet, drawing from music all over the world. His arrangements have been featured on Long Time Passing (2020), Placeless (2019), Landfall (2018), Ladilikan (2017), Folk Songs (2017), A Thousand Thoughts (2014), Rainbow (2010), and Floodplain (2009). He has also arranged for artists Anne Sofie von Otter, Angélique Kidjo, Laurie Anderson, Rhiannon Giddens, k.d. lang, Jolie Holland, Natalie Merchant, Tanya Tagaq, and Alim Qasimov. He currently teaches “Arranging Ensemble” at Mannes College in NYC.

As a trombonist, Garchik has worked with jazz and avant-garde luminaries, including Henry Threadgill, Steve Swallow, Laurie Anderson, and George Lewis, among others. He has also played in ensembles led by Mary Halvorson, Dafnis Prieto, Anna Webber, Alan Ferber, Dan Weiss, and Miguel Zenón, and others. In 2018, he won the “Rising Star–Trombone” category in DownBeat’s Critics Poll.