Orbert Davis is an Emmy Award-winning trumpeter, composer, and educator, and the co-founder, conductor, and Artistic Director of Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (CJP). A leading figure in Chicago’s arts and culture community for more than 30 years, he is widely recognized for his award-winning recordings and documentary scores that bridge jazz, classical, and contemporary music, as well as for his innovative work combining arts education and social impact.

His film and television credits include scores for WTTW documentaries DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis (for which he earned an Emmy Award); House Music: A Cultural Revolution; and When the Westside Burned. He also served as jazz consultant to Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes on the Tom Hanks film Road to Perdition. His acclaimed recordings include Priority, Blue Notes, CJP’s Collective Creativity, Sketches of Spain [Revisited], Havana Blue, Paradise Blue, and The Chicago River.

Davis is a co-founder of Discover Music: Discover Life, Inc. (DMDL), a company dedicated to using music to teach academic and life skills. He is also host of the long-running radio program “The Real Deal with Orbert Davis” on WDCB 90.9 FM, now celebrating the production of more than 750 shows.

Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance from DePaul University, a master’s degree in jazz pedagogy from Northwestern University, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Governors State University. He is a former associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and artist-in-residence at Columbia College Chicago.