Decades after debut on this Kansas City stage at 14, trumpeter returns as lead act
His first performance was at 14 years old at the Blue Room’s Monday Night Jam Session. This week, he performs again on the same stage, but as the main artist.
Trumpet player Chalis O’Neal will play a 45-minute set, then open the stage for other local musicians looking to play. Doors open at 7 p.m. Monday.
The journey from being inspired by older professionals on the stage to playing the leading spot himself is a testament to O’Neal’s driving force: music.
“Music is my purpose. It’s the end-all-be-all for me. I would give my life for it if I had to,” he said.
There’s another level of significance to Monday night’s performance: Earlier this year, he hosted his sophomore album release party at the Blue Room. “The Influence” was released May 30, 2025.
“Coming back to do my CD release party there as a grown man and as a professional artist, the little me inside was just balling with joy to be on that stage,” said O’Neal.
He’s determined to open doors to other musicians like him, as he did this summer with Boulevardia.
As a jazz artist, he was ecstatic about the concert introducing more jazz acts, and hopefully, following him, there will be more.
“I think they were really trying to showcase jazz, and I was trying to be a pioneer for that to open up the doors for Boulevardia,” he said.
Learning discipline
A graduate of the University of Missouri–Kansas City and Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, O’Neal found his passion for music at an early age. He picked up his first instrument, the trumpet, at 11 years old.
“I felt a connection with music in my younger, youthful childhood days, like around 4 or 5,” he said. “I used to play video games a lot, and I would just be obsessed with just the music of the video games.”
When he got to high school, inspired by Wynton Marsalis’ daily eight-hour training, he began to practice every day for three to five hours.
“He was my hero back in high school,” said O’Neal. “He’s actually the one that I saw the practice routine pay off for him beneficially. They said he practiced eight hours a day, and I was like, if I could at least do half of that, I could probably get somewhat good.”
Seeing the fruits of his labor pay off with awards and all-state jazz bands inspired him to want to keep getting better. His training taught him a work ethic that he still applies to his daily life, he said.
“I would say definitely the hard work that happened over my freshman summer going into my sophomore year was a defining moment of the start of my music career in hindsight,” he said.
Until this day, he tells family and friends he enjoys practicing more than performing. The hard work being displayed on stage and the audience’s reception is the reward for tedious practice, said O’Neal.
He was also inspired by his older brother, Harold O’Neal, who is a professional piano player in Manhattan, New York.
“I didn’t want to play the piano because I didn’t want to be in his shadow, might I say, so the trumpet fell in my lap and I fell in love with it ever since,” said O’Neal.
He caught the bug in high school, and he pulls from his heart and soul to keep the dream alive.
He’s fortunate to be born and raised in a city of jazz, he said. His music has brought innovation to Kansas City’s music scene. Drawing his inspiration from inside himself, he tries to take risks.
He’s motivated by taking those risks an,d more importantly, living with the results. The worst shot to take is no shot, said O’Neal.
“I feel like in jazz, everything has been played, everything has been done. So, the only thing that you can do now is kind of take your own twist,” he said.
The next project
With his second album just released months ago, he’s already starting to work on his third, which he plans to release in 2027. The album is coming from a more personal place, he said.
“It’s, like I said earlier, about the purpose, and I try not to down myself about not reaching a certain goal, but about trusting the process that everything is meant to be. They call it God’s plan,” said O’Neal.
