Charlie Ballamy is a jazz trumpeter and vocalist based in London, where he is currently in his first year of a Jazz Performance degree at the Royal Academy of Music. He is also, quietly, one of the most compelling young voices to emerge on the UK jazz scene right now.

Growing up in Frome, Somerset, Charlie's relationship with the trumpet began early and unexpectedly - with an ancient pocket trumpet his dad picked up from a flea market. Cornet lessons at primary school with Mr G. and joining the Frome Town Band started Charlie’s trumpet journey. A music scholarship to Wells Cathedral School with years of rigorous training, daily ensemble playing and extraordinary performance opportunities followed, including soloist for performance of Ellington's Sacred Music in Wells Cathedral.

Summers brought summer school at NYJOS, a tour of Scotland with Julian Joseph's Jazz Orchestra, NYJC and Berklee Jazz Clinics in Perugia, Italy.

At the Royal Academy, Charlie found his people - a group of like-minded musicians who would become his quartet. Alongside Angelica Coupland on piano, Holly Reinhardt on bass and Oscar Williams on drums, the Charlie Ballamy Quartet plays a repertoire that is deliberately eclectic: fresh reworkings of jazz standards sit alongside contemporary fusion and original pieces that draw on a wide range of influences. The result is music that feels both rooted and restless - exactly where the best jazz tends to live.

In August 2026 he makes his debut at Ronnie Scott's, one of the world's most iconic jazz venues, as part of the Late Late Show with Nikki Yeoh's Nucleus Sessions. It is his first professional engagement at that level. It will not be his last.

Charlie plays with a pure, sophisticated trumpet sound and sings with real expressive intelligence. He is versatile, instinctive, and takes the music seriously without taking himself too seriously.