Alumni Spotlight: Zach Finnegan

The Metronome Starts at 7 a.m.

A rising jazz star reflects on gratitude, discipline, and the lessons he’s carried from Bloomington to Madison Square Garden

By Raymond Fleischmann

Honesty comes up a lot when you talk with Zach Finnegan (M.M. ’20, Jazz Studies), a Chicago-based trumpeter and composer. It’s a quality he strives to deliver through his music, his compositions, and his connection with listeners, no matter the size of his audience or the style of the song.

“Whether you're playing for fifty people in a jazz club or thousands in an arena, your responsibility is the same,” Finnegan says. “Serve the music, support the people you're performing with, and connect honestly with the audience.”

Playing for small and large audiences alike is something Finnegan knows a lot about. At 31, the Jacobs School of Music alumnus is already making his mark on the jazz world. Since 2022, he’s been a member of Michael Bublé’s touring band and has performed in more than 30 countries at such notable venues as Madison Square Garden, the O2 in London, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and the 3Arena in Dublin. He’s also a weekly member of the Alan Gresik Swing Orchestra at the Green Mill Jazz Club in Chicago, one of the nation’s most prominent jazz venues.

"Every opportunity has been the result of countless people investing their time, encouragement, and trust in me. I genuinely love what I do, and I feel incredibly fortunate to share music with wonderful artists and audiences around the world."

But Finnegan hasn’t let any of this success go to his head. In interviews, he’s thoughtful and personable, measured but affable, and time and time again he reflects on gratitude — an earnest thankfulness for the teachers and listeners who have helped him throughout his career. In discussing his transition from playing at small clubs to playing at high-capacity venues with Bublé’s band, Finnegan is quick to credit his mentors.

“More than anything, the transition reinforced how grateful I am for every musician, mentor, and friend who believed in me along the way,” he says. “Every opportunity has been the result of countless people investing their time, encouragement, and trust in me. I genuinely love what I do, and I feel incredibly fortunate to share music with wonderful artists and audiences around the world.”

It seems only fitting that Finnegan’s first solo album is itself a kind of reflection on gratefulness. Guidance & Gratitude came out in 2024, though Finnegan says its nine tracks are the culmination of a decade’s worth of songwriting and personal growth.

“I believe great art reflects the human experience,” Finnegan says. “The compositions on this album explore emotions and experiences that are universal: love, loss, deception, healing, mentorship, joy, growth, and hope. Each piece represents a different chapter of that journey. The creative spark behind the album was simply lived experience and the opportunity to reflect on it honestly through music.”

It’s a striking album — one that received enthusiastic reviews from All About Jazz, Cultural Attaché, and Couleurs Jazz out of Paris — and it’s eminently listenable, as well. Each track on the instrumental offering feels unique and wholly realized.

The opening piece, “Urban Motion,” starts as a relaxed, syncopated groove that gradually builds to a frenetic jam, punctuated by moments of jagged dissonance and polyphony. But the album also includes a multitude of tender melodies; the third track, “Guidance & Gratitude 321,” and the fifth track, “The Movement,” include passages that feel almost elegiac, though Finnegan ultimately imbues even the most melancholic tracks with hints of triumph and optimism.

“As a composer and bandleader, I hope the record communicates sincerity, vulnerability, and gratitude,” Finnegan says. “More than anything, I hope listeners feel something real when they hear it. I never want my ego to get in the way of the music. If the album is able to move someone, comfort someone, inspire someone, or simply make them pause and reflect, then I feel it has done its job."

In addition to his work as a performer and composer, Finnegan maintains an active teaching schedule, as well. He operates his own private music studio in Chicago — teaching trumpet, jazz trumpet, composition, and even music business — and he’s previously held guest residencies at high schools around the country and taught through organizations like Jazz Empowers.

When he talks about teaching, Finnegan often reflects on his time at Jacobs, where he studied with a remarkable line-up of professors: Brent Wallarab, John Raymond, Greg Ward, and Joey Tartell, among many others.

“One lesson that has stayed with me came from Professor Tartell,” Finnegan says. “He often told us, ‘The metronome starts at 7 a.m. every day.’ And he led by example, and that’s stuck with me because it's all about consistency. Success isn't built on occasional great days. It's built on showing up day after day, doing the work whether you feel inspired or not.”

While earning his master’s degree at Jacobs, Finnegan held the Jamey & Sara Aebersold Jazz Fellowship, an annual award for graduate students in the school’s jazz studies program. The fellowship enabled his time at IU — “Quite simply,” he says, “without it I would not have been able to attend the Jacobs School of Music” — but Finnegan says it also gave him the opportunity to immerse himself in a musical culture and experience more of Bloomington and all it has to offer. Like music itself, the Jacobs School and Bloomington have a way of staying with us, and the Jacobs community is one that spans countries and continents the world over.

“Touring internationally, I've crossed paths with IU alumni on multiple continents, and it’s always beautiful how willing people are to support one another,” Finnegan says. “Those relationships have become an important part of my career and my life. More than anything, they remind me that music is built on community, and I'm grateful to be part of one that continues to uplift each other.”

Support IU Jazz Studies

About the author

Raymond Fleischmann is Director of Engagement for the Jacobs School of Music, where his work focuses on engaging Jacobs’ alumni and donors through communications, events, and new projects. He holds a B.A. in English and the Individualized Major Program from Indiana University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Ohio State University. His first novel, How Quickly She Disappears, was published by Penguin Random House in 2020, and his short fiction has been published in The Iowa Review, Cimarron Review, The Pinch, and many others. Reach him at rfleisch@iu.edu.

Alumni Spotlight: Zach Finnegan

The Metronome Starts at 7 a.m.

A rising jazz star reflects on gratitude, discipline, and the lessons he’s carried from Bloomington to Madison Square Garden

By Raymond Fleischmann

About the author

Jacobs School of Music social media channels