Duke Heitger performs and records around the world as a traditional jazz trumpeter, but at home in New Orleans, he reigns as one of the longest tenured riverboat bandleaders, appearing regularly on the Steamboat Natchez with his band, the Steamboat Stompers.

An Ohio native, Heitger absorbed jazz through his father’s record collection, falling in love with the horn sounds of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Bobby Hackett, and Bix Beiderbecke, and got his first taste of the stage at age 12, playing and touring with his dad’s Cakewalkin’ Jass Band.

Heitger moved to New Orleans in 1991, and has led his Steamboat Stompers on the Sreamboat Natchez since 1998, one of the longest runs in the history of Mississippi River bands. He has recorded prolifically, with the Steambot Stompers and in several other configurations of his own groups, and with popular artists like Maria Muldaur and Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. He’s also in demand as a sideman, both in the jazz realm and in the pop arena, such as his appearance on the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ best selling Hot. His trumpet can also be heard on films like Double Jeopardy and Six Feet Under, and the HBO series Treme.

Heitger has toured the world as both a bandleader and guest artist, and performed at prestigious venues ranging from the Hollywood Bowl to Lincoln Center, and at festivals from Edinburgh to Ascona. He is also an active teacher and clinician.