Trumpeter Arnetta Johnson has performed on the world’s stage, she’s only 26 with a bright future, and she’s our guest on this episode of The Philly Blunt.

At 13, Arnetta Johnson decided to take up trumpet at Camden, New Jersey’s High School for the Creative & Performing Arts in an effort to get out of class. Four years later, she entered the prestigious Berklee College of Music on a scholarship. Soon after, she performed at the Super Bowl as a member of Beyonce’s backing band. These days, she’s leads her own band called SUNNY.

Arnetta discussed growing up in Camden, her journey to Berklee in Boston, and the culture shock of that move. It was the first time she encountered racial slurs and faced life without a corner store. She soon realized that her fellow students had far more personal training leading into their arrivals at Berklee. She locked herself away in the practice room for most of her freshman year to catch up, and catch up she did.

She made a couple of connections at a show in Philadelphia that followed her to Berklee and eventually led to a gig in Beyonce Knowles’ band for her Super Bowl performance.

Arnetta is the self-proclaimed “Disrupter of Jazz” because she wants to disrupt everything you think of when you hear the word Jazz. NPR recently called Arnetta Johnson one of the Top 20 Artists to Watch.

Current events weigh heavily on Arnetta. She candidly discusses the importance of current events influencing the music she creates and how music has always been influenced by history.

We also talked about the pressures of being a band-leader at the young age of 26 years-old.

Arnetta’s story is an impressive and inspiring story.

LINKS:
Arnetta Johnson: www/Instagram/Facebook