Art Beat feature: Fanfare for Edmonds-Woodway’s rising trumpet stars

Edmonds-Woodway High School’s Jazz Combo recently earned national recognition after being named High School Outstanding Performers in the Small Jazz Combo Division of the 2026 Student DownBeat Awards, presented annually by DownBeat magazine, a storied publication widely regarded in the jazz world as a launching pad for emerging musicians. 

Among the honorees was trumpet player Gavin Bunbury, who also earned special recognition as an outstanding soloist.

Following the DownBeat announcement, Edmonds-Woodway High School Director of Bands and Department Chair Jake Bergevin told My Neighborhood News Group he believes he currently has “two of the best trumpet players” of his career in the same graduating class. 

Gavin Bunbury has pursued jazz and earned national accolades, while Mathilda Hummel has distinguished herself as an award-winning classical trumpet player.

My Neighborhood News Group spoke with Bergevin and the students to discuss their different musical paths and successes with the trumpet.

What makes the pair unusual, Bergevin said, is not just their level, but the way their musical paths have diverged within the same program. “I don’t think I can stress enough how unusual it is to have such great players on the same instrument in the same graduating class,” Bergevin said. “We always have good players in the program, but to have two that are so strong and so different in where they’re headed is rare.”

Both students are 11th graders. Hummel said she began playing trumpet in fifth grade, inspired by her father, who also played the instrument in high school. Before trumpet, she studied piano, something she said helped her early musical development.

“It definitely helped taking piano lessons when I was younger,” Hummel said. “Music kind of felt natural to me, and understanding what we were doing in band came more naturally.”

She said a turning point came when she began working with private teacher Brian Shaw. “That was really when it felt like I had way more opportunities and options.”

Bunbury began trumpet in third grade on a cornet that once belonged to his uncle, a professional musician in the San Francisco Bay Area. “My uncle used to be a professional player,” Bunbury said. “So I took inspiration from him.” 

Coming from a family of musicians who encouraged him to play an instrument, Bunbury said he’d “learn to love it.” However, his relationship with music took a little longer to develop. “I didn’t actually start liking it until about freshman year of high school, when I was introduced to jazz,” he said. 

Before jazz, Bunbury recalls “I had to push past that feeling of, ‘I don’t want to practice,’ but I’m really glad my parents made me continue because I would not have known what I could accomplish and where music could take me.”

Bunbury was recently selected for the National Youth Orchestra Jazz summer program, an elite ensemble made up of top young jazz musicians, ages 16-19, from across the country. In addition, NYO Jazz performs at Carnegie Hall and embarks on a world tour.

“You submit an audition and play three or four songs, depending on what you choose,” he said. “It’s a pretty rigorous selection because there are so many people who audition.”

Hummel’s path has leaned toward classical performance. She recently placed second in the Washington Music Educators Association solo and ensemble competition.

“That was really exciting,” she said. “I competed in that my sophomore year as well, and I learned a lot from preparing and working with a pianist.” She credited pianist Josh Archibald-Sheiffer with helping her performance process.

Hummel also attended the Tanglewood summer program and has recently been selected for the Eastman Summer Music Conservatory in Rochester, New York.

In addition, Hummel performed as a soloist at Edmonds-Woodway’s Masterworks Concert, playing a movement of the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, accompanied by the EWHS Philharmonic Orchestra.

“It was my first time playing concerto with orchestra in front of an audience,” she said. “There’s something so exciting and powerful about playing trumpet in an orchestra because your sound can really change the direction of the orchestra.”

For Bunbury, “The unfamiliar sounds of jazz really intrigued me,” he said. “And especially with jazz, you can pick up your horn and play anywhere, whether that’s at a jam session or just meeting new people.”

Bunbury said the collaborative nature of jazz helped him form closer friendships and challenged him creatively. 

He recalled earlier sessions working through the jazz standard Perdido, with a saxophonist friend during freshman year. “At that point we didn’t really know what improvising was,” he said. “There were many nights of him calling me and us trying to figure out what to play for the chart.” He recalled, “Those were fun times.”

Hummel said that the school’s music program has been defined by community and support. “I love the band room, and I love our music program,” she said.  She said she consistently feels supported by teachers and peers, expressing that she feels grateful for Jake Bergevin.

Bunbury said recognition carries personal meaning. “It feels very rewarding to see that the hard work has paid off.”

Bergevin said that reward ultimately comes from discipline itself.

“They practice. That’s pretty much it,” he said. “They are two of the most amazing practicers I’ve ever had. They really seem to just love the trumpet.”

For Bergevin, the rarity is not only the string of awards and recognition the students have accumulated, but the contrast itself: two rising trumpet stars in the same graduating class, sharing a similar starting point while pursuing entirely different musical paths – it’s also a reflection of how far the program’s students can go.

You can hear the students play at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley Wednesday, May 27, and at the fifth annual Edmonds Jazz Walk this weekend.