A UW graduate and alumni of the Wisconsin Marching Band, Jon Linker has spent the past 9 years as a trumpeter in the United States Air Force Band Program. He is currently assigned with the United States Air Force Band in the Boston area. As "America's Musical Ambassadors", the USAFE Band travels extensively throughout Europe and Southwest Asia performing for both military and civilian audiences and is often featured in European radio broadcasts. Jon has been a soloist with the USAFE Concert Band and Ambassadors Jazz Ensemble and is also music director for its rhythm and blues band Blue Horizons.
Prior to joining the USAFE Band, Linker spent three years with the Air Force Band of Flight at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base outside Dayton, Ohio. and has studied extensively with trumpet virtuoso Vince DiMartino at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Other teachers include Ron Modell, Mark Ponzo and Pat Harbison.
Jon holds a Bachelor of Music degree in trumpet performance from Northern Illinois University and was a member of the highly-acclaimed NIU Jazz Ensemble, backing up such artists as Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Pete Chrislieb, Don Menza, Red Rodney, Louis Bellson, Tito Puente, Carl Fontana, Marvin Stamm and Claudio Roditi. While at NIU, he performed with the Rockford (Ill) and Beloit (Wis) Symphonies and at Six Flags Great America.
Jon is a 1988 graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a BA in journalism and spent three years as a sports reporter with the Beloit Daily News. He was a 5-year member of the UW Marching Band and also played in the Statue of Liberty All-American Marching Band in 1986.