Trevor Turla inside a studio art space above The Ship in the West Bottoms, where his father paints. “I came up playing at The Ship,” he said. (photo by Jim Barcus)
The Kansas City trombone player and singer/songwriter is achieving significant national exposure
It’s been a productive year for Kansas City trombone player and singer/songwriter Trevor Turla, whose sounds encompass jazz, blues, soul, rock and Americana. Locally, Turla has played on countless stages and festivals and alongside numerous different performers and music ensembles, including Splatt, his duo with fellow trombonist/rapper, Kadesh Flow. But in the past 12 months, he has begun to enjoy significant national exposure, and these days divides his time between Kansas City and New York.
It wasn’t so long ago that Turla was struggling with doubts about his future. He had developed the skills, but didn’t know how to grow his career. He realized he needed a business plan and enrolled in a course at Missouri Small Business Center. “Music is a business,” he says, though many don’t like to admit it. Money is a necessary key — to record, to outfit a vehicle, to pay his musicians fairly and to travel.
The model that emerged for him revolved around making contacts all over, with producers, record companies and other artists. And accomplishing that well beyond Kansas City, which has a wealth of music talent but can be lacking in technical and industry support structures.
Earlier this year, Turla set off from Kansas City on a Homerian music journey with stops in LA, New York, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans and San Juan. In LA, he got advice from Kansas City bassist Dominique Sanders, who moved there in 2018 and has performed on top hip hop records, including work with Janelle Monae. In Puerto Rico, he said, he “just walked up and met a guy.”
That guy turned out to be respected producer, composer, performer and bandleader in the world of salsa, Motiff (Arbise Gonzalez). The two met at the jazz club Alegria, in San Juan, and upon hearing Turla play, Motiff asked if he ever got to Miami. Turla was then invited to his studio and Motiff became his advisor/mentor.
While in New Orleans with Mireya Ramos, Latin Grammy-winning vocalist, musician, composer and founder of the all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache, Turla got to play with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band live at the Midnight Preserves concert series.
“That was a life changing experience,” he said.
Ramos and Turla have often performed together. They were both featured on the NPR Tiny Desk submission this year with the “Poor Choices” ensemble, which also included Calvin Arsenia and Jeff Freling. They performed in New York in March and were artists in residence at Greenwich House Music School with a final concert on April 25. In May of this year they headlined at the Latin Music Festival “Unsin” in Miami. They’ve performed in Kansas City, New York, LA, Miami, Chicago and New Orleans and traveled together between gigs. Turla says she feels like his sister.
Through a recording session with Ramos at Warner-Chappell Latin, Turla met Miami producer Diego Contento, and ended up arranging and adding the horns on a song with Puerto Rican pop star Pedro Capo, recorded at the legendary Cutting Cane Studios. It also confirmed a connection with Sony Music.
Recently, The Pitch praised Turla’s latest extended play recording, “And We Continue,” citing its “array of sentiments, from poignant and introspective moments to growling, thundering and funky.”
Turla credits that mix of sentiments and his storytelling to his Filipino American heritage. His mother is from Pennsylvania; his dad came from the Philippines and settled in Detroit. Turla is extremely proud of his younger brother, a nationally ranked heavyweight boxer.
Music in their home was eclectic. Turla played bagpipes before turning to the trombone in middle school and holds a degree in jazz studies. Besides the “And We Continue” EP, Turla has five other singles out, and four new tracks will soon follow.
Clearly, Turla has evolved a winning strategy: “Expand your network and be your authentic self. Help the people you can help and be helped by the people who can help you,” he said in a March 2024 interview with Bold Journey Magazine, where he also shared his thoughts about his approach.
“For me, creativity is a flow state,” he said. “Exercise, practicing my instrument and my voice, as well as reading and writing are ways I still my mind enough to maintain a flow state.”
