Willie Applewhite (Trombone) is a trombonist, composer, and arranger. Willie was born and raised in the Chicagoland area. He has performed with many great jazz artists including Slide Hampton, Wycliffe Gordon, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, William Parker, Bobby Broom, and Junior Mance. Willie’s musical studies brought him to The Institute for Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School in New York City, where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees. A music educator, he went on to serve as Director of Jazz studies at Snow College in Utah from 2011 to 2014 before returning to New York. Working now as an in-demand sideman, Willie is a fixture in the New York music scene and collaborates with James Burton and Brandon Lee as co-leaders on the Uptown Jazz Tentet, a big band featuring both original compositions and arrangements of jazz standards.