Summer Camargo is a 24-year-old jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who was recently named "25 for the Future" rising jazz stars by DownBeat magazine. Summer is a native of Hollywood, Florida and a Jerome Greene Fellowship recipient at The Juilliard School, where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Summer is a regular performer at notable NYC jazz clubs like Dizzy’s and Birdland, as well as a member of the Mingus Big Band. In 2022 Summer became the newest and youngest member of the Saturday Night Live house band and is also enjoying her most recent role as a band member in Broadway’s new musical, Just in Time.
Steadily collecting a list of competition wins, grants, and awards, Summer was the recipient of the Laurie Frink Grant, was awarded the Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Soloist Award, the Dr. J. Douglas White Student Composition Contest, the International Trumpet Guild’s Ryan Anthony Trumpet Memorial Competition, and the Outstanding Trumpet Soloist Awards at Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2017, 2018, and 2019 Essentially Ellington Festivals.
In her young career, Summer has toured with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on the Big Band Holidays tour, served as a panelist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz Congress, was featured in the FENDI Renaissance - Anima Mundi project in New York City, performed with Jon Batiste at the Newport Jazz Festival, was a guest artist at Wynton at 60, participated in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at The Kennedy Center, and performed her original composition “Alalazoo” at the 2022 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala.
As an educator, Summer has conducted masterclasses at the JEN conference, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, as well as at multiple jazz camps. She has also adjudicated jazz festival competitions at Northern State University, the Eau Claire Jazz Festival, and Essentially Ellington Regional Festivals.
Summer released her debut album To Whom I Love with Blue Engine Records in March of 2024, which received a notable review in DownBeat magazine and was featured in their Hot Box. Summer is also a proud Conn Selmer/Bach artist.
