“Infectiously energetic and inventive” (The Wee Review Arts & Culture, Scotland), Hammontree rejects the safety of generalizations, instead embracing the nuanced, the unexpected, and the deeply individual. His music resists easy categorization, thriving in the spaces where genres, disciplines, and ideas intersect — where complexity isn’t just acknowledged but celebrated.His deep listening project Trumpet: Echoes combined live-processed solo trumpet with a spatialized audio installation, premiering at Socrates Sculpture Park’s 2022 New Agora Jazz Festival. Audience members navigated an evolving landscape of echoing jazz harmonies as they moved through the tree grove. His duo project Impressions, with pianist/composer Nicole Brancato, reimagines classical music’s Impressionism with modal jazz’s improvisational freedoms, and was featured at the 2024 Lunigiana International Music Festival (Italy).A core member of The Queen’s Cartoonists, Hammontree combines theater and foley arts in his multi-instrumental performance (trumpet, trombone, and tuba), which pairs historic but underperformed works from the jazz tradition with projects from the golden age of animation as well as new animation commissions.

The Queen's Cartoonists ensemble has opened for the New York Philharmonic and has performed in 42 states and Europe, including Porgy and Bess Jazz (Vienna, Austria), Birmingham Town Hall (UK), SF Jazz, Teatro Tivoli (Lisbon, Portugal), and Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary, Canada).As a composer, Hammontree’s work includes collaborations with artists like Jason Trachtenburg (Late Night with Conan O'Brien & MTV), as well as new work awards from the Queens Council on the Arts (2020, 2022, 2024), Flushing Town Hall (2024), and the NYC City Artist Corps (2021). On screen, his music and performances have been featured on Netflix, CBS, HBO, RAI, PBS, BBC3, ABC, and NPR.A sought after teaching artist and presenter, Hammontree has delivered sessions at over 50 universities across the country, including Texas A&M University, University of Illinois, and SUNY Purchase. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYS).

“Skilled, tight playing”
_{— Todd Crawshaw, Edmonton Jazz Society/Yardbird Suite}

Trumpet: Echoes

Grant wins: New York Foundation for the Arts (2024), Flushing Town Hall (2024), Queens Council on the Arts (2022)

Trumpet: Echoes and Transmit: Echoes are meditative sound/art music projects created for deep listening.Weaving together layers of sound — from acoustic sources like trumpet and piano to field recordings, electronic instruments, and live audio processing — the duo folds together layers of sound into a musical tapestry that echoes the people, places, and ponderings in the larger world around it.

• Trumpet: Echoes

The Queen's Cartoonists

"Truly a spectacle."
^{— All Things Considered, NPR}"Most impressively looney is Hammontree’s performance."
^{— Mashable}

Greg is a core member of this internationally-acclaimed jazz sextet that plays music with cartoons! TQC has opened for the New York Philharmonic and has performed in 42 states and Europe, including Porgy and Bess Jazz (Vienna, Austria), Birmingham Town Hall (UK), SF Jazz, Teatro Tivoli (Lisbon, Portugal), and Jack Singer Concert Hall (Calgary, Canada).
_{Represented by CAMI Music.}

• TQC Official Site

Impressions

In a concert that's equally elegant, electric, and explorative, husband-wife duo Greg Hammontree (jazz trumpet) and Nicole Brancato (classical piano) take timeless pieces of Jazz and Classical music in transcendent new directions in Impressions. Featured at the Lunigiana International Music Festival (2024), Columbia University, and the Seven Hills Chamber Music Festival (2024).

• Full Concert

Electro-acoustic Collabs

Greg has an extensive history of electroacoustic work. Inspired by pointilism in art, his Pixelationism project digitally reconstructs iconic jazz pieces using tiny fragments of electronic sound that come together to create a full and vibrant sonic landscape.The concept behind his current project The Brass Tree ensemble is to uplift the individual creative voices of the ensemble musicians, each of whom hail from a different creative background.

• The brass tree

Trad Jazz

Specializing in traditional jazz from the 1920s, Greg has performed at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, and performs with current icons of the style such as Vince Giordano.Trumpet Marmalade is a jazz chamber brass quartet playing complete ensemble transcriptions of Louis Armstrong's music. Greg performs this music on trumpet, trombone, and tuba.

Classical Performance

Greg is a featured soloist and ensemble musician of the Seven Hills Chamber Music Festival, based in Virginia. His work with SHCM includes a soloist performance in Handel's Water Music; chamber works like Alfredo Casella's Serenata; and his original chamber music. One such original work thematically portrayed a classical ensemble in the midst of the beginnings of jazz in the early 1900s.

Mozart's Jazz Requiem

#4 on Billboard's Classical Crossover Albums

Mozart died without finishing his requiem, so The Queen's Cartoonists are here to finish the job! "Mozart's Jazz Requiem" is a tribute to one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. The entire piece has been re-composed in the style of Raymond Scott and John Kirby, with a hint of modern jazz in there, too. Using Mozart's famous sense of humor as their guide, the band presents a wildly original take on Vienna's greatest export.

Trumpets from Around the World

Winner of the Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant 2020

Trumpets from Around the World features Greg's original genre-defying compositions for an incredible variety and combination of horns. The many sonic perspectives he achieved in his work are accomplished by only two performers: Nicole Brancato on keyboard/electronics, and himself on 18 different trumpets.

• Bandcamp
• Youtube

Trumpet Echoes

Winner of the Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant 2022

Greg fully improvised this un-edited meditative album. The listener is encouraged to listen for the unique colors created between the many echoes of the initial trumpet sound.

Note to Self

Inspired by the challenge of writing an album of monophonic works, Greg composed this series of short character pieces. Each can be thought of as a single idea or "note to self". Although each piece addresses a technical aspect of trumpet playing, they feel more like a whimsical sketch or impromptu train of thought.

"Clock" from the album, Note to Self. This solo trumpet piece is about how our perception of time changes as we grow older. Video by Michael Landau