Griffin James

Trombone

Griffin is the Director of Bands at Baraboo High School, where he bravely wrangles three concert bands and a jazz band on a daily basis. When he isn't waving a baton at teenagers, he’s putting his lungs to the test. He plays trombone with the Red Hot Horn Dawgs and hoards instruments like a musical dragon, performing on everything from the euphonium and tuba to the alto horn and trombone.

His musical fingerprint is everywhere. You can catch him lending his brass talents to the Madison Brass Band, CHROMOS Tuba Quartet, Driftless Brass Quintet, Hal Edwards Orchestra, and the excellently named Big Griffy Jim and the Polka Dots. He is also a regular fixture in the local musical theater pits of Baraboo and Madison, both conducting the madness and playing in it.  And, he is the proud conductor of the Baraboo Community Concert Band, keeping him off the streets of Baraboo on Monday nights.

Before making Wisconsin his musical playground, he held down the low end as the Principal Trombone of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra and taught high school bands in Bakersfield, California, and Greenfield, Wisconsin. Griffin currently lives in Baraboo, where his wife and two children graciously tolerate a house undoubtedly filled with constant brass practicing.