Standing Ovation: Howard University Icon Takes a Bow After 51 Years

May 1, 2025

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Fred Irby III, longtime AFM member, trumpeter, music professor, and founder of the legendary Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE), has retired after 51 years.

Irby had planned to retire in 2024, only to be persuaded by his students to stay on for one more year. Though he won’t be on the bandstand, Irby says he’ll continue to support the jazz program in a different capacity, as advisor and fundraiser.

Back in 1974, when Irby arrived at Howard, the school had a marching band but no other instrumental groups. Within a year, he had organized the university’s now famous jazz ensemble, which performed its first show at the Kennedy Center. In 1976, they released the first of 49 recordings.

The Jazz Ensemble has toured and performed with distinguished artists the world over. Irby established the Abraham S. Venable Endowed Scholarship for jazz ensemble students, and in 1996, he created the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award. The honor has since been presented to 82 artists and institutions. 

Irby expanded students’ repertoire with new music. In 1984, at the Smithsonian Baird Auditorium, the band premiered the commissioned work, Tromba: Suite for Trumpet and Piano by Ulysses S. Kay (nephew of legendary New Orleans jazz cornetist Joe “King” Oliver).

Irby’s love of brass began in Mobile, Alabama, in the 1950s, when he remembers tagging along behind the marching band that trooped by his house every day. When he was 9, his father bought him a trumpet—and Irby played his way to a scholarship at Grambling State University.

When he arrived in St. Louis for graduate school, Irby studied with Susan Slaughter of Local 2-197 (St. Louis, MO), principal trumpet with the St. Louis Symphony. “That was one of my most gratifying experiences playing trumpet—learning repertoire and how to be a professional musician,” he says.

Irby has been an active musician for recording projects in TV and film, for the Oscars and Emmy awards, Dancing with the Stars, and the Kennedy Center Honors. He’s the last member of the once tenured musical theater component of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra (KCOHO), where he played first trumpet for decades. Irby belongs to three AFM locals: Local 2-197, Local 40-543 (Baltimore, MD), and Local 161-710 (Washington, DC).

“Fred Irby is a legendary trumpet player and educator. His career has spanned more than 50 years at our local, where his amazing artistry and musicianship have thrilled audiences at the Kennedy Center, Howard University, and in countless venues across the United States,” says Local 161-710 President Ed Malaga. “Through it all, Fred has been a wonderful friend and colleague. On behalf of Local 161-710, we offer our heartfelt respect and appreciation for all his contributions to our music community.”

DownBeat magazine inducted Irby into its Hall of Fame for Jazz Education. He’s received honors from Grambling State University, Disney Performing Arts, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Southern Illinois University, and recently the LeJENds of Jazz Education Award from the Jazz Education Network. He received the DC Jazz Festival Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. 

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