Vince Mendoza is a music arranger and composer.

Mendoza was born in Connecticut and studied guitar as a child, influenced by classical music, soul and jazz. He then took up the trumpet, which he continued to play throughout his time at Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

, where he played in the Jazz Ensemble and the Concert Band. Mendoza also led his own big band at Ohio State called the Vince Mendoza Big Band where he honed his composing skills. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition in 1983. He did his graduate studies in composition at the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

.

He was signed to Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

, with whom he released “Start Here” and “Instructions Inside”. His compositions have been featured by Gary Burton

Gary Burton

Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...

, Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny

Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...

, Michael Brecker

Michael Brecker

Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...

 and Charlie Haden

Charlie Haden

Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...

. Mendoza has frequently provided arrangements for their work, as well as for Randy Brecker

Randy Brecker

Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...

 and Peter Erskine

Peter Erskine

Peter Erskine is an American jazz drummer and composer. He has enjoyed a long and successful career as a session drummer, recording and touring with many famous jazz and rock artists, including Steely Dan and Weather Report...

.

Mendoza's work involves various musical styles. He has produced and arranged for singers as diverse as Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams

Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

, Björk

Björk

Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...

, Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, and six Grammy Award winning albums, Travelogue

Travelogue (Joni Mitchell album)

Travelogue is a 2002 double album by Joni Mitchell featuring orchestral re-recordings of songs from throughout her career. It is the follow-up to 2000's Both Sides Now which had a similar format...

, Both Sides Now with Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

, Some Skunk Funk, Brown Street, El Viento and 54. Since 2005 he has been chief conductor of the Dutch Metropole Orchestra

Metropole Orchestra

The Metropole Orchestra is a jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it is a combination of jazz big band and symphony orchestra...

.

Discography

• Nights on Earth (2011)
• 54 (2010)
• El Viento (2009)
• My One and Only Thrill
  My One and Only Thrill
  My One and Only Thrill is the second studio album by American jazz singer–songwriter Melody Gardot, released in the United States on April 28, 2009 by Verve Records. As May 2009, two singles had been released: "Who Will Comfort Me" and "Baby I'm a Fool"...
  
  (2009)
• Blauklang (2008)
• Brown Street (2007)
• Some Skunk Funk (2005)
• Both Sides Now
  Both Sides Now
  - Personnel : * Joni Mitchell — vocals * Mark Isham — trumpet, solo* John Anderson — oboe * Julie Andrews — bassoon * Nick Bucknall — clarinet * Stan Sulzmann — clarinet, flute * Philip Todd — clarinet, flute and alto flute...
  
  (2000)
• Travelogue
  Travelogue (Joni Mitchell album)
  Travelogue is a 2002 double album by Joni Mitchell featuring orchestral re-recordings of songs from throughout her career. It is the follow-up to 2000's Both Sides Now which had a similar format...
  
  (2002)
• Epiphany
  Epiphany
  Epiphany may refer to:* Epiphany , a Christian holiday on January 6 celebrating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus* Epiphany , a sudden realization of great truth...
  
  (1999)
• Sketches (1993)

With John Abercrombie

John Abercrombie (guitarist)

John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...

• Animato
  Animato (album)
  Animato is an album by guitarist John Abercrombie with keyboardist Vince Mendoza and drummer Jon Christensen recorded in 1989 and released on the ECM label-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G...
  
  (ECM, 1989)