Baikida Carroll

Baikida Carroll (born January 15, 1947, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American jazz trumpeter.

Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he directed their big band. This group recorded in Europe in the 1970s.

Carroll was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Vashon and Soldan High School. He studied trumpet with Vernon Nashville. His early influences were Clark Terry and Lee Morgan. Carroll worked with the All City Jazz Band, whose members included Lester Bowie, J.D. Parran and James ”Jabbo” Ware. While still in high school he worked with Albert King, Little Milton and Oliver Sain. Carroll joined the United States Army in 1965, and served in the 3rd Infantry Division Band in Wurzburg, Germany. In 1968, Carroll returned to St. Louis and led the Baikida Carroll Sextet, also becoming orchestra conductor/director of the Black Artists Group of St. Louis (BAG), a multidisciplinary arts collective that brought him into contact with artists such as Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, and John Hicks. In 1972 Carroll, Lake, Joseph Bowie, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, and Floyd LeFlore ventured to Paris, France touring as Oliver Lake and the Black Artists Group. He also performed with Anthony Braxton, Alan Silva, Steve Lacy, and his own quartet. He taught theory and trumpet at The American Center in Paris, and was Artist in residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts.