John Milton Blount, III

October 20, 2017

On Friday, October 20, 2017 John Milton Blount, III, U.S. Navy Veteran passed away at the age of sixty after a brave battle with cancer.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 5, 2017 at 2PM at Heritage Funeral Home with Tim Paul officiating. Military honors will be provided by the United States Navy. Entombment will follow the service in Maury Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. A visitation will also be held on Sunday from 1-2PM at the funeral home. Heritage Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

John Blount began his career as a young man in the middle 1970’s when he was a standout trumpet player in the Columbia Tennessee Central High School band program. After high school he studied music at Middle Tennessee State University where he was also a member of the named Band of Blue. Later he attended Western Connecticut University while studying with Jim Maxwell and Bob McCoy, both nationally known players and teachers.

John joined the United States Navy music program in 1984.He attended the Navy School of music and was then assigned to the United States Navy Show Band, South, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1990, John was selected to play with the United States Navy’s premiere jazz ensemble, The Commodores, stationed in Washington D.C., and for the next fifteen years as lead trumpet made numerous national tours and played in many of the biggest jazz festivals both in this country and in Europe.

To further his musical career, John retired from active duty in the Navy in 2004. From the outset of his civilian career John has been in high demand as a first trumpet player in prestigious venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the National Theater, the Wolf Trap Center for Performing Arts, all in the Washington, DC area, and the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore. John has been first chair trumpet in many of today’s most prominent musicals including Hair Spray, The Producers, My Fair Lady, Chicago, Spamalot, Mame, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple, Wicked, and Legally Blonde.

In 2007 Sea Breeze Records released John’s first CD, “Better Days Ahead.” He also has a line of trumpet mouthpieces, the John Blount Signature Series, made by Greg Black. John’s book, “Trumpet Solfeggio” was published by Charles Colin in 2008.

Through numerous hours of hard practice and perseverance John had reached a performance level that had qualified him to work with many of the world’s top musicians and artists, including Doc Severinsen, Lou Rawls, Maureen McGovern, Natalie Cole, Manhattan Transfer, Arturo Sandovol, Terry Gibbs, Randy Brecker, Milt Hinton, Frank Mantooth, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., Jack Jones, Steve Lippia, Diane Reeves, Patti Labelle, The Four Freshman, K.D. Lang, the Glenn Miller Band, and Jimmy Dorsey Band, and Aretha Franklin.

John lived in Baltimore, Maryland, where he maintained a private studio. He also taught in several other musical instruction programs and was co-leader of the Baltimore based John Blount-Dave Tucker Big Band.

He was the beloved son of John Milton Blount, Jr. and the late Betty Blount; cherished brother of Kathy (Jim) Lyons and the late Robert Blount; adored uncle of Cassy Lyons and John Michael Whitley; loving long-time companion of the late Cathy Sterns. John is also survived by many other relatives, cousins and devoted friends.

The family requests memorial donations be made to the music department at Faith Baptist Church: 7378 E. Furnace Branch Road, Glen Burnie, MD 21060.