Ira Sullivan (May 1, 1931 – September 21, 2020) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, flautist, saxophonist, and composer born in Washington, D.C., United States. An active musician since the 1950s, he often worked with Red Rodney and Lin Halliday.

Sullivan was born on May 1, 1931, in Washington, D.C., United States. His father taught him to play the trumpet beginning at age 31⁄2, and his mother taught him saxophone. He played in 1950s Chicago, Illinois, with such musicians as Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Wardell Gray and Roy Eldridge, gaining a reputation as a fearsome bebop soloist. After playing briefly with Art Blakey in 1956, and mastering alto and baritone saxophone, Sullivan moved south to Florida and out of the spotlight in the early 1960s.^[3] His reluctance to travel limited his opportunities to play with musicians of the first rank, but Sullivan continued to play in the Miami area, often in schools and churches. Contact with local younger players, such as Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny led to teaching and to a broadening of his own musical roots to include the stylings of John Coltrane‘s jazz rock.