Larry “Prof” Jenkins, Jr. is a GRAMMY Award winning musician and educator who shares his love for music with those around him. To date, he has served as a trumpet soloist, band leader, educator, musical arranger, composer, keynote speaker and motivator. His passion for music began at a young age in Portsmouth, Virginia and his musical prowess ultimately led to a college band scholarship at Tennessee State University, where he graduated with bachelor’s degree in Music in 2009.

Soon after, Larry moved to Washington, D.C. where he taught music in the DCPS School System. In 2012, he attended Howard University and graduated with honors in 2014 with a Master of Music Education degree.

In 2014, Larry returned to his alma mater, TSU, as a Professor/Assistant Director of Bands for the “Aristocrat of Bands” marching band (AOB). Since returning to TSU, his list of performances include the 2019 NFL Draft, Cedric the Entertainer’s Netflix Special, Halftime for the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN’s First Take and the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The “Aristocrat of Bands” has also performed twice at the White House in recent years. The first White House Lawn performance was for President Barack Obama and guests to celebrate the opening of the National African American Museum of History and Culture in 2016. The AOB returned to The White House in 2023 to celebrate the nations 1st National Juneteenth Celebration.

Larry has also presented as a panelist and speaker at the California African American Museum, the National Museum of African American Music and for Carnegie Hall’s Music Educators Workshop. He’s also been a commentator for publications such as Rolling Stone, ESPN’s Andscape, TheGrio and more. Other honors include being named in the 2023 Yamaha “40 Under 40” Educators class and receiving the 2023 Writing Sessions of America ICON Award for his contributions to the music industry and his community alongside the great Bootsy Collins, award winning country artist Rissi Palmer and music executive Phil Thornton.

He continues to be involved within his community with projects that extend outside of the classroom, including composing the musical score for the film ‘Message Read’, which was featured on Fox Soul Network and co-founding Brassville (brass band). With Brassville, he has been featured in numerous publications including NPR and the Nashville Scene as well as performed across the country with the most recent being their 2nd appearance at Exit Zero Jazz Festival in Cape May, NJ. Brassville continues to serve the community through collaborations and community based performances to this day.

His most recent collaborations include co-producing the GRAMMY Award Winning Tennessee State University Marching Band Album THE URBAN HYMNAL and collaborating with artist and producer Dubba-AA on the Ambient/New Age album, KAMPAN. His diverse set of performance, production and recording collaborations also include work with Old Crow Medicine Show, 22Gz, Derrick Hodge, Ski Beatz, 2LiveBre, Starlito, Flutebae and Daru Jones amongst many others.