Thara Memory was born in Eatonville, Florida and died on June 17, 2017, in Portland, Oregon.
He was a trumpeter and educator.
Memory attended Alabama State University and Marylhurst University.
Memory lived in Portland, Oregon, United States from the 1980s until his death in 2017.
During 2005, he founded the American Music Program Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra (often shortened to American Music Program), a youth jazz orchestra in Portland, Oregon, that has won national accolades.
In the 2012 Portland Jazz Festival, Memory was honored as 2012’s Portland Jazz Master.
He was a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.
On February 10, 2013, Memory won a Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) category for his arrangement for the Esperanza Spalding track “City of Roses” from her album Radio Music Society, which featured the students of the American Music Program in the music video and backing up Spalding on the album.
Thara Memory passed away at 68 years old.