Interview: Jon Lampley of LATE NIGHT WITH STEPHEN COLBERT at Lincoln Theatre

As he was growing up, Jon Lampley made several trips from Tallmadge to Columbus with his father, Jon Sr., to watch Ohio State University football games. He remembers dreaming one day he’d take the field … as a Sousaphone player.

“I became immersed in the whole football culture,” said Lampley, who plays trumpet for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s house band as well as O.A.R. and the Huntertones. “We’d go to the Skull Session (the band’s pregame practice/pep rally before home games). That meant showing up at St. John Arena at 8 a.m. for a noon game.

“I remember when I was in fifth grade saying, ‘I’m going to dot the I (in Script Ohio). I played trumpet but when I went into high school, I started playing the Sousaphone so I could do that.”

Lampley, who dotted the I three times his senior year, will unveil a concert based on his new album NIGHT SERVICE 8 p.m. Nov. 15  at the Lincoln Theatre (769 E. Long Street in downtown Columbus). Although he spends most of his time in New York City, he considers Columbus his second home. His last visit to the Capital City was on Aug. 29 when he played with O.A.R. for a concert at KEMBA Live! amphitheater.

However, he admits this time will be different.

“Every time I've played in Columbus, it's been with a project I am a part of, whether it is with O.A.R. or the Huntertones (a six-person outfit that was created when Lampley, saxophonist Dan White, and trombonist Chris Ott attended Ohio State).

“This is the first time I’m able to perform music that is fully mine. I've written all the music and came up with the concept for it, and I'm really excited to share that with the Columbus community.”

NIGHT SERVICE is a collection of nine jazzy tunes that represent Lampley’s connection to the church as well as his own maturity as an artist.

Katy Coy, Jazz Arts Group CEO, called Lampley “a steward of the incredible jazz scene here in Columbus.”

“We can’t wait to have him at the Lincoln as part of his tour,” Coy said. “This will be an incredible evening, and we can’t wait to welcome him back to the Columbus stage.”

“I love that venue,” Lampley said of the Lincoln Theatre. “It’s such an iconic theatre.”

Lampley first played the Lincoln with the Huntertones, a band that derives its name from Hunter Avenue where some of the members of the sextet lived and hosted parties while attending Ohio State. He recalled one party attracted over 200 students along with former OSU president E. Gordon Gee showing up.

Lampley returned to the theater to play a Christmas variety show with local jazz legends, saxophonist Eddie Bayard and drummer James Gaiters.

“They were like, ‘Hey, you want to come play with us?’” Lampley said. “I was like, ‘ahh yeah!’”

Lampley traces his love of music back to the choir room of the First Apostolic Church in Akron. His mother, Rebekah, directed the children’s choir and his uncle James played the trumpet. (“I love my dad, but he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket,” he added)

Lampley said NIGHT SERVICE is a nod to those experiences that shaped his career.

“The project isn’t a religious thing per se, but a lot of the original music I've written is inspired by gospel,” he said. “Growing up, I was surrounded by people who were playing music.”

“I knew as soon as I picked up an instrument, I'd be playing in church. There was no choice. (Laughs). I started playing the trumpet in fifth grade and as soon as I could play a couple of scales, Mom was like, ‘Alright, take your trumpet to church.’ The band let me pick through stuff and, and week by week, I’d try to figure it out.”

That period of Lampley’s life was his “musical education.” He not only learned how to play hymns, but how to read a room and match his performance to its ambiance.

“Learning that music is entirely aural. There was no reading sheet music or scores,” he said. “It was always listening to what was happening and using your ears to find the songs to match it.

“Whoever was playing the organ or leading the choir was responsible for literally directing the spirit of the Lord there. You must be sensitive to what was happening. Is it a somber mood? Is it uplifting? Then you had to choose songs that facilitated that.”

And if Lampley ever lost track of that, he drew the rueful eyes of the church’s organist and choir director.

“If you played something that didn't sound good, they’d glare at you and you'd be like, ‘Whoa, let me lay back a bit,’” he said with a chuckle.

That education has more than paid for itself. Through O.A.R and the Huntertones, Lampley has gotten to play in places he only dreamed about.

“It’s cool,” he said. “Most of us were from small towns in Ohio, and yet, we got to build something with friends we met in college, create music and then play that music in South America, in West Africa, in Japan, and in different places in Europe.”

Lampley has also gotten to play with the likes of Ed SHeeran, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon as a member of Colbert’s house band.

One of the highwater marks came in 2016 when Lampley performed with Stevie Wonder.

“For me, Stevie Wonder is kind of like the North Star,” Lampley said. “It was like watching LeBron James as a kid and then all of a sudden you get to play basketball on his team.”

Behind the vibrant colors of his career, there is a touch of gray. Jon Sr. passed away shortly after his son moved to NYC and missed out on some of his son’s greatest accomplishments.

“(My dad) was the greatest supporter of everything I did, whether it was sports, band, or school,” he said. “I came from a small town and everybody thought I'd be a doctor, a lawyer or something like that. When I decided I was going to play music, everybody wasn’t sure about that.

“(Doing what I do now) is the type of opportunity my dad would have been not only proud of me but he would’ve known ‘OK, John's going to be alright.” “It’s something that brings me joy when I'm playing. I know this life I have would not exist had it not been for the way that he supported me and the sacrifices he made for me.”

Photo credit: Deanie Chen

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