Clatskanie native Nate Wooley translated musical passion into thriving New York career

Paying the bills with a career in music can be difficult, especially in an expensive city like New York. But Clatskanie native and trumpeter Nate Wooley has turned his passion for jazz and avant-garde music into a thriving career.

And in September, he’ll perform with the New York Philharmonic.

“It’s completely insane,” Wooley, 43, said about playing with the world-class orchestra. “The thought of it scares me a little bit, in a good way.”

Jazz has always been in Wooley’s blood. His father, Dee Wooley, was a saxophonist and frequently performed with swing bands in the Northwest. He also was music director for the Clatskanie School District for 26 years. His mother, Elsa Wooley, was a founding member of the Clatskanie Arts Commission.

When Nate was 13, his dad took him to a Portland record store, where the young trumpeter purchased his first record: a Miles Davis/Thelonious Monk live album.

Dee Wooley also let his son play alongside his band.

“It was a nice way to develop a relationship with my dad,” Wooley said in an interview in Longview last week. “Not everybody gets a chance to work with their dad in that kind of setting at that early of an age.”

After performing in jazz bands at Clatskanie Middle-High School and the University of Oregon, Wooley earned his master’s degree in music at the University of Denver.

In 2001, Wooley moved to New York. The Big Apple forced him to start creating and performing at a higher level.

“New York is a very tough place to be,” he said. “It’s not a place you can just settle into. You really have to fight not just to get your name known, but to survive. But it was absolutely worth it just to be with musicians that I had not only idolized before, but that I came to idolize by working with them.”

For several years, Wooley worked a wide variety of side jobs to make ends meet. These ranged from building computer databases to pretending to be a ballet dancer so a studio could attract more young men to join its ranks.

“That’s kind of the New York way to work,” Wooley quipped.

But for the past seven years, Wooley has found a stable second income by editing an online music journal called Sound American, which focuses on contemporary experimental music.

“I find that musicians are incredibly articulate about what they do, and they know their music better than anybody else,” he said about writing. “So if you can talk them into writing about it, you almost always learn more than someone who maybe studied their music for 10 years that writes a book about it.”

After being “surrounded” by New York’s creative scene, Wooley solidified his niche: experimental jazz. Although his passion for the genre’s wonky side was at first a “rebellious streak” against his more traditionalist father’s tastes, Wooley said he eventually realized that his love for avant-garde music was genuine.

“I realized … that there was a certain thing that I heard in my head, and to me, it seemed totally natural to play,” he said. “It makes the most sense to play what I hear in my head rather than deny that and do something else.”

One example of Wooley’s experimental bonafides is his group, named Seven Storey Mountain, which once performed a show in Berlin with 19 musicians, all of whom had to “primally scream for an hour” with their instruments.

Wooley also said he appreciates how hip-hop has melded with jazz over the years, like in Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed 2015 album, “To Pimp a Butterfly.”

“I think it’s done really organically, and it’s a beautiful thing,” he said of Lamar’s album. “The more (different genres) mix, the more beautiful it gets.”

Wooley’s career as a trumpeter is still thriving: He said he performs about 200 shows a year, including many in Europe, and his schedule isn’t slowing down. Wooley most often performs in are Roulette Intermedium and ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn and The Stone in Manhattan — all known for showcasing experimental art.

“Every year, it’s a joke with my wife at the end of the year: I say, ‘Looks like next year’s going to be a little more relaxed.’ Then there’s 30 more shows than last year,” he said. “It just seems to keep rolling.”

Four of those shows will be with the New York Philharmonic in September. Wooley said he’ll be part of an ensemble performing “Library on Lightning,” written by modern composer Ashley Fure. According to Wooley, the opportunity of performing with the famed group is “completely insane.”

“I’ve been working in jazz and improvised and experimental music, which is kind of on the fringe,” he said. “So then to have this piece played four times with the New York Philharmonic, at the beginning of their season, in a high-profile (show), I think it’s really fantastic.”

Wooley said he plans on continuing to play his trumpet for whomever will listen.

“I’m just enjoying it while it lasts, trying to play as much as I can,” he said. “And when the world decides they’re sick of me, then I’ll play less.”