Gerard Presencer sideman Gerard Presencer Gerard Presencer (born 12 September 1972) is an English jazz trumpeter. Presencer showed his first interest in what was to become his chosen instrument, the trumpet, at nine. He attributes his early determination to become a trumpeter to hearing Roy Eldridge's solo from a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert. He has cited Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Wheeler, Woody Shaw, and Clifford Brown as early influences. When he was eleven, he became the youngest trumpeter with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. At the age of 18, he began playing with pianist Stan Tracey, in his
Jazz on the Ave Music Festival the North Philadelphia community. This avenue has a musical history, having hosted John Coltrane, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday and Dizzie Gillespie. Then named Columbia Avenue, and called the Golden Trip, the avenue was a famed destination for jazz entertainment during Philadelphia's golden era of jazz from the 1940s through the early 1960s. Jazz on the Ave is a part of Beech Community Services' way of giving back to the Cecil B. Moore community and continuing its role of revitalizing the area by providing social, educational and community services to its tenants – both residential and commercial. “For ten years now,