Brian Scarborough is a trombonist, improviser, composer, and educator whose career is deeply rooted in Kansas City while reaching audiences throughout the United States and abroad. A top-call performer in the region, Brian regularly leads his own jazz ensembles and performs with leading groups including the People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City and Zen Brass, and has also appeared with the Kansas City Symphony and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. A veteran of more than 60 musical theatre productions, he has performed with numerous touring Broadway productions, including the First North American tour of the Tony Award–winning musical Hadestown.
As a leader, Brian has released two albums to date; We Need The Wind (2024) and Sunflower Song (2020). Brian’s music has been described as “simultaneously stimulating and accessible, refreshingly modern and rooted in tradition” by Chicago Jazz Magazine. His performances and compositions have been praised as those of "a talented composer and soloist from a city steeped in Jazz History" by Warta Jazz and a "unique musical voice" by Last Row Music. Additionally, Brian has recorded extensively as a sideman and session musician.
As a soloist, Brian has received recognition at the regional, national, and international levels. His honors include winning the National Solo Jazz Competition at the 2015 American Trombone Workshop, being named a Luminarts Fellow in Jazz Improvisation in 2014, and earning finalist recognition in both the J.J. Johnson Jazz Trombone Competition and the Gilberto Gagliardi Tenor Trombone Competition through the International Trombone Association. During his studies, he received two Outstanding Performance Awards from DownBeat Magazine's Student Music Awards, and in 2022 he was voted Kansas City's Favorite Jazz Trombonist in the Jam Ambassadors Music Awards.
Brian maintains an active private trombone studio and is passionate about creating innovative educational resources that explore both new and established concepts from fresh perspectives while addressing gaps in traditional music education. In 2026, he founded Bonetruth Music as the home for his growing catalog of educational publications and to further his mission of delivering creative, accessible, and purposeful resources to musicians worldwide.
Brian regularly presents workshops and masterclasses for students of all ages at schools, universities, camps, and festivals throughout the Midwest and abroad.
Brian earned a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from DePaul University in 2015 and a Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance from the University of Kansas in 2013. He is also a proud alumnus of the Disney All-American College Band, serving as lead trombonist in 2014.
Brian is a Buffet Crampon Artist and plays Antoine Courtois Trombones. He is a member of the International Trombone Association, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and the American Federation of Musicians (AFM Local 34-627).