My name is James Kates. I have played the trumpet since fifth grade. I have been playing for well over 40 years. You can do the math.

I have played in school bands, pick-up combos, church ensembles, a weekend dance band, and numerous community concert bands in Wisconsin and Michigan. I love listening to many kinds of music, but my current favorite is opera, especially Rossini, Verdi and Puccini.

I don’t play music for money, at least anymore. For that, I am an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. From 1984 to 2009, I was a newspaper reporter and editor in Milwaukee and Philadelphia.