Three time Grammy nominated composer and trumpeter Tim Hagans performs and records with the Tim Hagans Quartet and as a guest composer, conductor and soloist with the NDR Bigband and other large ensembles. 

His most recent CD, A Conversation (Waiting Moon records 2021), an all-new, original multi-movement concert performed by Hagans and the NDR Bigband was the June 2021 Editor's Pick in Downbeat Magazine. 

His CD FACES UNDER THE INFLUENCE, A Jazz Tribute to John Cassavetes (2017 Waiting Moon Records) is a suite of 7 musical portraits inspired by characters from the films of John Cassavetes. The recording features the NDR Bigband in Hamburg with Mr. Hagans as guest composer, conductor and trumpet soloist. Downbeat writes: “Hagans himself shines as the braying Richard Forst in Faces. Hagans suite underscores the sadness and confusion, empathy and hope in Cassavetes’ gritty works with accuracy and honesty.” 

Tim Hagans was nominated for Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Composition for “Box of Cannoli” from THE AVATAR SESSIONS (2010 Fuzzy Music); Best Contemporary Jazz CD for RE*ANIMATION (2000 Blue Note) and ANIMATION IMAGINATION (1999 Blue Note). Tim Hagans is the featured soloist on the soundtrack by Howard Shore for the movie The Score, starring Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando. In June 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. 

Tim Hagans has performed and recorded with Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins, Joe Lovano, Bob Belden and Dexter Gordon. It was Thad Jones who encouraged Tim to write music, and Hagans' first composition appeared on a Thad Jones Eclipse LP. 

For three years he was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra. For fifteen years he was artistic director and composer-in-residence for the Norrbotten Big Band, traveling to Sweden to perform, conduct and arrange projects with guests including Rufus Reid, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, and Dave Liebman. THE AVATAR SESSIONS CD features music he created during that tenure, performed by Tim Hagans, the Norrbotten Big Band, and the above mentioned guest artists.

Tim Hagans was the recipient of the 2008 IAJE/ASCAP Established Composer commission and was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Grant. Other notable commissions include the Barent’s Composers Orchestra in 2009; NDR Bigband in 2001, 2004, 2013, 2016 & 2023; Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra in 2003, 2007 and 2014; and the UMO Jazz Orchestra in Helsinki in 1997 and 2005. He has composed music for Christer Engberg’s play The Hostage and for Jazz Baltica. 

In 2007 he began performing and composing for the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, a contemporary dance company dedicated to the use of live original music in performance and the integration of musicians into the stage imagery.