About
Biography
Fascinated by many modes of creativity, Janelle Finton is a trumpeter, vocalist, composer, who approaches music making and storytelling with wonder.
She has performed with groups such as the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the Grace Fox Big Band, the John Daversa Big Band, the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and NYO Jazz at Carnegie Hall, where she toured Europe and Asia with Sean Jones, Dianne Reeves, and Kurt Elling. As a theater musician, she has subbed for productions of Beehive, White Christmas, and Catch Me if You Can at the Marriott Theater, and Legally Blonde through Music Theater Works.
As a composer, she has been recognized by Downbeat, the American Composer’s Forum, and is published with Brava Jazz, and Anchor Music. In 2024, she debuted her folk/jazz/chamber group joygarden, and had her concert band piece “Letting Go: Space for Joy” premiered at the Midwest Clinic through a commission by John Hersey High School. Also commissioned by Hersey, her piece “Midnight Song” premiered at the 2025 Jazz in the Meadows festival. Also in 2025, she was commissioned by Carnegie Hall as an arranger for NYO Jazz, and conducted the premiere at Carnegie, and on tour in Latin America. In April 2026 she premiered her big band piece “The Landscape Remembers” commissioned by Ensworth HS in Nashville.
Janelle is a lifelong learner, and as an educator, invites her students into the practice of creativity, through curiosity. She teaches through private lessons, workshops, and guest artist residencies at schools/festivals across the US, which include the Interlochen Arts Camp, Illinois Music Education Association, College of Dupage, and various other programs. She has served as jazz combo director at Rolling Meadows High School.
Finton holds a B.M. from the Frost School of Music where she studied with Brian Lynch, as well as Etienne Charles, Dafnis Prieto (improvisation), and Dr. Kate Reid (voice). In 2020 Janelle played in the JAS Aspen Summer Academy Big Band under the direction of Christian McBride. In 2021, she played lead trumpet in the world premiere of Chucho Valdes’ “La Creación”. As a member of Jazz Vocal Ensembles, she won two Downbeat awards. As a member of the Frost Jazz Orchestra, she orchestrated/arranged John Daversa’s arrangement of “Dancing in the Street” for Regina Carter. In 2023 she was chosen to represent Frost in the International Association of Schools of Jazz conference where she spent a week performing original music in Helsinki, Finland.
Janelle will be starting her M.M. in jazz composition from the University of Southern California in the fall of 2026. She is continuously grateful for all the opportunities she has to share joy with people through her music!
Contact Janelle for any performing, composing/arranging, or teaching inquiries!
Janelle is a Bach Conn-Selmer endorsed artist.
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Artist's Statement
Joy is often thought of as a synonym to happiness, but to have unconditional joy is more about finding hope amidst the longing.
Opening our hearts to healing.
In a broken world where it is so easy to fall into a state of emotional numbness, letting the light in anyways.
Sharing unconditional joy with others is the why of what I do as a musician and creative.
Music is able to express the deepest parts of who we are, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn about and be a part of so many unique rich traditions that showcase the human condition throughout the ages.
Through voice, trumpet, composition, poetry, and other mediums, I am devoted to telling stories, growing in empathy and compassion, and being vulnerable with my art, in hopes of creating an opportunity for connection,
reminding us what it means to be human, and to find the joy.
- Janelle Finton
Memory Gallery
Defining moments of Janelle's career
