Cyrus Mackey is an American Trumpeter, Composer, and Producer. Growing up in Chicago, he picked up the trumpet in 5th grade, later learning about jazz from his grandfather, who introduced him to artists such as Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith, and Herbie Hancock. These became his first influences. He first began playing jazz in his high school, Chicago High School for the Arts, while simultaneously learning from the wide variety of art and culture that Chicago provides. He later transferred to Dillard Center for the Arts where his school won first place in the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz band Competition in 2018.
In his final year of high school, Cyrus was able to tour multiple European countries with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2018, its inaugural year. He was later named a 2019 National YoungArts Foundation Finalist in Jazz/Trumpet.
Cyrus has been mentored by and studied with some of the world’s greatest jazz musicians, such as Nicholas Payton, Sean Jones, Roy Hargrove, and Wynton Marsalis.