Vaughn is a clinician for the Yamaha Corp. Vaughn began playing the trumpet when he was six. His father, Leon, was a trumpeter, and would say Vaughn had a special affinity for the trumpet, even as a baby. Vaughn's father was the greatest force in his early development and success as a trumpet player, and remained a strong and steady influence throughout his life. Vaughn showed a true gift as a trumpeter at a young age. He loved listening to the masters of the instrument - Doc Severinsen, Harry James, Maynard Ferguson, and Dizzy Gillespie, and as a 2nd grader, he was already performing with the high school jazz band. He remembers the first time he realized his natural ability with the upper register; he was playing along with the old standard, Never On Sunday, and he played the bridge up the octave. From then on, whenever he would play that song, he would do the same thing, striving to make it sound cleaner and stronger each time. In his teen years, he became infatuated with Dizzy Gillespie and bebop. He wanted to play like Dizzy, and more than that, he wanted to play with Dizzy. That ultimate goal was finally realized when Dizzy was the guest artist with the Airmen of Note at Constitution Hall in Washington DC. Vaughn and Dizzy shared the stage and traded off on Things to Come. The experience was the beginning of a close friendship between the two trumpeters. Vaughn performed with the Airmen of Note for nearly 20 years, and along with the recordings by the band, he cut two solo albums. After retiring from AON in 1993, he became a distinguished soloist and clinician under his own name, and as a recording artist for Summit Records, has produced three more albums including last year's release, Panorama. For more information about Vaughn, and to purchase his albums, please visit www.vaughnnark.com. From the concert at Constituion Hall - Vaughn and Rick Lillard solo Take The A Train Also from the concert at Constitution Hall, Dizzy Gillespie make an historic appearance With Vaughn and the Airmen of Note Things To Come From Vaughn's second solo album, El Tigre Caravan Here's a live take of Over The Rainbow, recorded in 1999 with the Miss. Jazz Camp Orchestra Over The Rainbow The next three selections are all from a concert with the Century Jazz Ensemble in White Bear Lake, MN, in February of 2003 In The Mood She Was To Good To Be True Stompin' at the Savoy Finally, from Vaughn's latest release Panorama, here's America, performed with the Shades of Blue Orchestra America