Landing on Hailey Brinnel’s website, visitors are greeted by the vocalist and musician leaning on her trombone like an elaborate brass walking cane. Soon a pop-up pops up, prompting them to subscribe to her newsletter. It features a cartoon of Hailey—a jazz educator currently on faculty at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts—holding the same instrument behind her head. So you’d be mistaken for thinking that playing tram professionally was something she always aspired to—a burning passion inspired by Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden or Gunhild Carling.
But you’d be wrong. In fact, trombone was the fifth instrument Hailey picked up, unless you count her highly acclaimed voice as well. “I took up music aged ten, in fifth grade,” the Sarah Vaughan Competition finalist told me, speaking by video from her Philly apartment. “I wanted to play french horn—I think I liked all the winding tubes. When school didn’t offer that, I wanted to play euphonium.” But Hailey’s older brother, soon-to-be-pro pianist Paul Brinnel, warned her off of that. “He told me I couldn’t play euphonium in jazz bands,” said Hailey. “So I picked the trombone. I wasn’t really into it at first—but I grew to love it.” She went back to the euphonium later on for its “beautiful” sound, but it’s tram she now plays professionally.
Before even considering brass, Hailey began with t
