Dr. Joseph Gray

Dr. Joseph Gray serves as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Mississippi State University and is a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Army Music Program. Before joining MSU, he was the Associate Director of Bands and trumpet instructor at the University of North Alabama and taught on the music faculty at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

A versatile and accomplished performer, Dr. Gray has appeared with national Broadway touring productions of The Book of Mormon and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. He has held principal trumpet positions with the Shoals Symphony Orchestra and Opera Southwest and performs regularly with the Alabama, Huntsville, and Chattanooga Symphony Orchestras. His recordings can be heard on the Beauport Press and Naxos labels, and his performances have been broadcast on the nationally syndicated radio program Performance Today.

Dr. Gray has been active in the drum corps community for over 30 years, having performed with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps and served on the educational staff for both the Academy and Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He is currently a member of the brass staff for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps.

He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in trumpet performance from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was awarded the Eugene M. Bolz Fellowship. He also holds a Master of Music degree from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Long Beach.