Highlight Reel
Live Performance
Music Video
Presenter – 16th Annual LA Music Awards
Presented award to Richard Street – Temptations
Lee Thornburg is a trumpeter who has played with many artists, and also has been a member of Supertramp and Tower of Power.[1] Thornburg also played with Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders in the 1970s.
Biography
After four years on the road with the legendary Wayne Cochran and C.C. Riders, and regardless of his desire to stay in Los Angeles, California, Lee Thornburg found himself traveling with Nicolette Larson’s band and then with Lowell George (formerly of Little Feat). He backed up Lowell George during the George’s brief tour in June 1979 in support of his album Thanks I’ll Eat It Here. The tour was cut short after two weeks by George’s death.
Additionally, Thornburg toured with Tom Petty, Aaron Neville, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, Dwight Yoakam and Clint Black.
In 1992, he joined the band Chicago for a show released on VHS cassette called And the Band Played On, temporarily substituting for Lee Loughnane, whose wife was having a baby.
Thornburg is an original and founding member of the blue-eyed soul band of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack He also arranges for and perform with Etta James and the Roots Band.
He joined The Tonight Show Band in 2001. On April 6, 2006, host Jay Leno improperly labeled Matt Finders (Trombone Player) as the Trumpet Player; when questioned Catherine Keener asked Leno who played trumpet in the band. Kevin Eubanks chose not to renew Lee Thornburg’s contract.
In 2003, he played on the DekaJaz album Eclectikos, he appeared with the group several times in clubs in the Los Angeles area.
In 2008, he played on Willy DeVille’s Pistola album, and the following year on Air Surreal, by Elvis Schoenberg’s Orchestre Surréal.
In 2009, Thornburg performed at The Royal Albert Hall in London on Joe Bonamassa’s latest DVD release.
He has also made guest appearances in the small town of Uvalde, Texas, playing with the Uvalde High School jazz band.
In 2010 he composed and performed the final cadences on Matt Bunsen’s “Ode to Mila Kunis”.
In March 2011, he rejoined Tower of Power after Mic Gillette had left the band.