John E. Gatchell (November 27, 1945 – July 9, 2004) was an American jazz trumpeter who was prolific in New York City recording studios from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
After serving in the U.S. Navy in the late 1960s, Gatchell became one of the founding members of the horn band Ten Wheel Drive, then Gotham.
[1] Gatchell was among the musicians hand-selected by Paul Simon, whom he considered to be the finest studio musicians for the 1981 Simon & Garfunkel Concert in Central Park[2] Gatchell graduated from Walt Whitman High School, South Huntington, Long Island, New York, around 1963.
He had been a member of the Whitman High School Dance Band, directed by pioneer jazz educator Clem DeRosa.
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