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Dr. Javier Nero is an award-winning trombonist, composer, arranger, and educator based in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area. At the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Nero teaches the jazz trombone studio, arranging, harmony, ear training, and graduate composition, and has previously served as director of the Peabody Jazz Ensemble.
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Dr. Nero holds the lead trombone position with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” performing as a member of the U.S. Army Blues, an elite, audition-only ensemble of 18 musicians dedicated to performing jazz at the highest artistic level. The band presents public concerts, appears at major jazz festivals nationwide, and performs for high-profile civic and governmental events, including those at the White House and the United States Capitol, connecting audiences across the country with America’s military service members through music.
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In addition to his work with the Army and Peabody, Dr. Nero is the lead trombonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader of the Javier Nero Jazz Orchestra (JNJO). The ensemble performs monthly at An Die Musik in Baltimore, Maryland, and has appeared in sold-out performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club in New York City, Keystone Korner Baltimore, Blues Alley, and other prominent venues. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in collaborations with Wynton Marsalis, Titus Burgess, Veronica Swift, and Ashley Pezzotti, as well as by Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO) programs.
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Dr. Nero also maintains an active national profile as a sideman with Grammy Award–winning and Grammy-nominated ensembles based in New York City and beyond. He is a regular member of The 8-Bit Big Band, the acclaimed NYC-based jazz orchestra led by Charlie Rosen, known for its innovative reimaginings of video game music for large jazz ensemble. The band has won two Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, earning the honor in 2022 for “Meta Knight’s Revenge” and again in 2026 for “Super Mario Praise Break,” underscoring the growing artistic and cultural prestige of the genre. Dr. Nero has also performed and recorded with ensembles such as the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Steven Feifke Big Band, Manuel Valera Jazz Orchestra, and others.
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Dr. Nero’s debut jazz orchestra album, Kemet (The Black Land), featured eleven original compositions and arrangements for 18-piece jazz orchestra and included guest artists Sean Jones, Randy Brecker, Warren Wolf, and Christie Dashiell, performed by a world-class ensemble. The Javier Nero Jazz Orchestra will release its sophomore album, Alkebulan, on March 20, 2026, on the Outside In Music label. The album features seven original compositions and two imaginative arrangements of jazz standards, with guest appearances by Grammy Award–winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis, Veronica Swift, and others.
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Dr. Nero holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and both a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.