Truly, looks can be deceptive. While Etuk Ubong looks more like an ambitious and hardworking young man, the soft-spoken talent does not immediately cut the part of a Jazz musician.
On the contrary, Etuk is one of the fast-rising Jazz trumpeters who are making waves at home and at the global scene even from Nigeria. Born and raised in Lagos, the Akwa-Ibom State indigene from the Ibibio extraction is a trumpeter and flugel horn player who started playing music at the age of 14. Since then, he has honed his craft for a decade with eyes on stardom.
Etuk started his music coaching under the guidance of Etop Adolphors and Victor Ademofe. He later went to Peter King College of Music and MUSON School of Music in Lagos to study jazz and classical music respectively.
Currently he is enrolled for jazz studies at South African College of Music, University of Cape Town and had earlier completed the Berklee Online Specialist Certificate in Improvisation and he hold certificates from Trinity College London and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
Apart from his formal studies, Etuk gained invaluable experience playing with world-renowned musicians such as Victor Olaiya, Femi Kuti, the Gangbé Brass Band, Pat Harbison, Nduduzo Makhathini and many others. In 2012, Victor Ademofe, Etuk’s former teacher/ top Nigerian trumpeter, invited him to play with him at the Lagos Jazz Series. Following that collaboration, Ubong who was 21 years then, was handpicked by Femi Kuti to join his band, and played regularly for two years with Kuti at the African Shrine, at festivals, venues around Nigeria and music tours in Ghana.
A highlight for him was meeting Hugh Masekela, South African jazz legend, at the Bayelsa International Jazz Festival produced by Inspiro Productions in 2013. Moving on from Kuti’s band, Etuk then played with the Gangbé Brass Band, touring with them for a while to Benin, the Art Ensemble of Lagos and then he played with various local ensembles and bands in Nigeria. In 2015, Etuk played with his Nigerian Quartet, made up of Ita Samson on bass, Timothy Ogunbiyi on piano/keyboards and Tombrapade Robert on drums, at the Lagos International Jazz Festival, the Abuja Jazz Festival and the MUSON Jazz Festival.
Cleveland Watkiss, a British vocalist, was impressed by the band that he invited Etuk’s Quartet to play with him at the Satchmo Jazz Festival, where he was a headline act. As a member of the International Trumpet Guild, the young Etuk represented Nigeria and Africa at its conference in Ohio, USA in August 2015 and rounded off the year playing in the On Mass project headed by Jamie Cullum as part of the London Jazz Festival.
In 2016, Etuk relocated to South Africa to further his jazz studies at the University of Cape Town. A smart move which saw him rapidly starting to make a name for himself in the local jazz scene, having formed a South African Etuk Ubong Quartet with three rising talents; Ludwe Danxa on piano, Shakeel Cullis on double bass and Keno Carelse on drums.
The Quartet have performed at top live jazz venues in South Africa such as The Orbit Jazz Club, African Freedom Station, The Crypt Jazz club, Sophia-Town Heritage Centre, The Piano Bar, Straight No chaser Jazz club and also the Artscape Youth Jazz Festival and are developing a name with jazz lovers and the media alike.
Etuk has also performed with various other musicians and bands by invitation and in South Africa has played with Nduduzo Makhathini, Benjamin Jephta, Justin Bellairs and Ayanda Sikade among others. He featured as soloist in the Artscape Youth Jazz Festival 2016. Etuk has also achieved some album feats.
He recorded ‘Miracle’, his debut EP, with his Nigerian Quartet in March 2016, and released the album in June. It features original jazz compositions that reflect his Nigerian heritage, as well as, life philosophy of goodwill, peace and love to humanity.
His current and upcoming performances in South Africa and Nigeria are focused on promoting the EP. They include the Jazz in the Native Yards Heritage Festival with the SA and in Nigeria, headlining the Abuja Jazz festival and the Satchmo Jazz Festival both with the Nigerian Quartet. Engagements are underway for touring in 2017 to the USA and Europe.
