Artist: Wallace Roney

Wallace Roney was an American jazz (hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter. 

Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie, and studied with Miles Davis from 1985 until the latter's death in 1991. Wallace credited Davis as having helped to challenge and shape his creative approach to life, as well as being his music instructor, mentor, and friend.

Roney was born in Philadelphia, and, after graduating from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts of the D. C. Public Schools, attended Howard University and Berklee College of Music.

When he entered the Duke Ellington School, Roney had already made his recording debut at age 15 with Nation and Haki R. Madhubuti, and he had played with the Cedar Walton Quartet featuring Billy Higgins, Sam Jones, and Philly Joe Jones at age 16. 

In 1979 and 1980, Roney won the DownBeat Award for Best Young Jazz Musician of the Year, and in 1989 and 1990 the DownBeat Magazine's Critic's Poll for Best Trumpeter to Watch. 

In 1984 and 1985, he was played in Latin dance and reception bands, as the New York clubs, once a prominent part of the jazz scene, had mostly disappeared. But in 1986, he received a pair of calls, in the same month, to tour with drummers Tony Williams and Art Blakey, after which Roney became one of the most in-demand trumpet players on the professional circuit. 

In 1986, he succeeded Terence Blanchard in Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was an integral part of Williams's quintet. In 1991, Roney played with Davis at the Montreux Jazz Festival. After Davis's death that year, Roney toured in memoriam with Davis alumni Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock,  and Tony Williams and recorded an album, A Tribute to Miles, for which they won a Grammy Award.