Jazz Studies Faculty
Paul Bollenbeck (guitar) David Gibson (trombone) Christine Correa (voice) Brad Jones (bass) Ole Mathisen (saxophone) Tony Moreno (drums) Don Sickler (trumpet, composition and arranging, ensembles) Ben Waltzer (piano) Steve Wilson (saxophone) |
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Title:
Professor |
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Farah Jasmine Griffin is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She received her B.A. from Harvard (1985) and her Ph.D. from Yale (1992) Professor Griffin’s major fields of interest are African American literature, music, history and politics. The recipient of numerous honors and awards for her teaching and scholarship, in 1996-97 Professor Griffin was a fellow at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College. She is the author of Who Set You Flowin'?: The African American Migration Narrative (Oxford University Press, 1995), the co-editor (with Cheryl Fish) of Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African American Travel Writing (Beacon, 1998), and the editor of Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus (Knopf, 1999). Her most recent book, If You Can't Be Free Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday, was published in 2001 by the Free Press.
He has written widely on jazz, hip hop, electronic music, musicians’ unions and technological displacement, and is currently completing a book entitled Misterioso: The Art of Thelonious Monk and his book, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination will be published by Beacon Press in June. He is the author of Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (1990); Race Rebels: Culture Politics and the Black Working Class (1994); Into the Fire: African Americans Since 1970 (1996); co-editor (with Sidney J. Lemelle) of Imagining Home: Class, Culture, and Nationalism in the African Diaspora (1994); co-editor (with Earl Lewis), To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (Oxford University Press, 2000); general editor (with Earl Lewis) of the eleven volume Young Oxford History of African Americans (Oxford University Press); and co-author of Three Strikes, with Howard Zinn and Dana Frank. His collection of essays, Yo’ Mama’s DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (Beacon Press, 1997) was selected one of the top ten books of 1998 by the Village Voice.
His essays have appeared in several anthologies and journals, including
Black Music Research Journal, The Voice Literary Supplement, New York
Times, New York Times Magazine, Callaloo, Rolling Stone, The American
Historical Review, American Visions, Journal of American History, Utne
Reader, Fashion Theory, Social Text, and frieze: contemporary art and
culture, to name a few.
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Improvisor-trombonist, composer and computer/installation artist, studied composition with Muhal Richard Abrams at the AACM School of Music, and trombone with Dean Hey. As a composer, Lewis has explored electronic and computer music, computer-based multimedia installations, text-sound works, and notated forms. A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, Lewis's work as composer, improvisor, performer and interpreter is documented on more than ninety recordings. He has worked closely with film/video artists Stan Douglas and |
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Don Ritter, as well as with contemporary musicians such as Anthony Braxton, Anthony Davis,Bertram Turetzky, Count Basie, David Behrman, David Murray, Derek Bailey, Douglas Ewart, Evan Parker, Fred Anderson, Frederic Rzewski, Gil Evans, Han Bennink, Irene Schweizer, J.D. Parran, James Newton, Joel Ryan, Joelle Leandre, John Zorn, Leroy Jenkins, Michel Portal, Misha Mengelberg, Miya Masaoka, Muhal Richard Abrams, Richard Teitelbaum, Roscoe Mitchell, Sam Rivers, Steve Lacy and Wadada Leo Smith.
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Title:
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Robert O’Meally is the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Director of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University. He received his B.A. from Stanford (1970) and his Ph.D. from Harvard (1975). His major interests are African American literature, music, and painting. He has written extensively on Ralph Ellison, including The Craft of Ralph Ellison (Harvard, 1980), and a collection of papers for which he served as editor, New Essays on Invisible Man (Cambridge, 1989). Prof. O’Meally has written a biography of Billie Holiday entitled Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday and a documentary of the same name (which has been shown on public TV). He edited Tales of the Congaree (University of North Carolina, 1990), a collection of black folk tales; he co-edited a volume entitled History and Memory in African American Culture (Oxford, 1994). He is a co-editor of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. His new projects include a monograph on painting, literature, and jazz, Seeing Jazz (Smithsonian, 1997); a five CD set with booklet, Jazz Singers (Smithsonian, 1997); and an edition of essays, The Jazz Cadence of American Culture (Columbia, 1998).
| Christopher
Washburne
Title:
Assistant Professor, Director of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance
Program
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Christopher Washburne is an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance program at Columbia University. He has published numerous articles on jazz, Latin jazz, and salsa topics, and his book, New York Salsa, will be published in 2006 by Temple University Press. He has co-edited a volume entitled Bad Music: The Music We Love to Hate (Routledge Press, 2004).
He has been called the "best trombonist in salsa" by Peter Watrous
of the New York Times. He is leader of the highly acclaimed Latin jazz
group SYOTOS, the busiest and most in demand Latin jazz band in New York.
His newest release, Paradise In Trouble (Jazzheads Records) has received
rave reviews and was nominated for the "Best Latin Jazz Recording
of 2004" by the Jazz Journalists Association. In addition to SYOTOS
he has performed and recorded with Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Celia
Cruz, Ray Barretto, Mark Anthony, Justin Timberlake, Celine Dion, Gloria
Estefan, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Louis Armstrong Visiting Professor
2001-2002: Robin D.G. Kelley
2002-2003: Stanley Crouch
2003-2004: John Szwed
2004-2005: Sherrie Tucker
2005-2006: John Szwed
Jazz
Performance Instructors
Paul Bollenbeck (guitar) Not one jazz virtuoso could put the definition of jazz into words, but all agreed that you know it when you hear it. That's the way it is with Paul Bollenback. It's bona-fide playing, unambiguous, up-front and powerful," summarizes George Benson, a long-time friend. His debut recording, Original Visions, as a leader with Challenge Records, is one of the most creative efforts by a guitarist in recent memory. Double Gemini, his second CD, features four of his own compositions and won the title of CD of The Month in Jim Fisch's distinguished jazz column in 20th Century Jazz Magazine. It won the same award from the renowned jazz radio station WBGO in Newark, New Jersey. Challenge Records has recently released his third recording, Soul Grooves. |
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Paul Bollenbeck's emotionally expressive style and eclectic approach is the result of years of listening, studying and playing music by Carlos Santana, Yes, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and Lenny Breau. At the age of seven, Paul received a nylon-string guitar from his father, a classically trained trumpeter and lover of music. When Paul was eleven, his family relocated to New Delhi, India, on a three-year consulting engagement with United States Aid. It was there that he cultivated his life-long interest in exotic musical sounds and timbres, which is evident in Original Visions. When his family returned to the United States, Paul's father bought him an electric guitar and he began listening to rock-and-roll. Then he heard Miles Davis and his world changed forever.
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When David
Gibson moved to New York City in 1999, he was a little known musician
with the desire to create music at the highest level. Since that
time, he has been recognized as one of the leading trombonists in
a new generation of jazz musicians. Through the mentorship of legends
Slide Hampton and Curtis Fuller, David succeeded in achieving his
goal. |
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contributed to the recording as both a performer and composer. He
arranged his composition "Maya" for the large trombone ensemble
and shared solo duties with Mr. Hampton. |
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| Gibson
has frequently found himself in the company of many jazz luminaries
when performing with the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Big Band. He has also
performed with the Bob Belden Big Band, the Mingus Big Band and the
New Jazz Composer's Octet. In April 2003, Gibson received second prize at the prestigious Thelonius Monk Jazz Competition. His debut recording as a band leader, Maya, was released in April 2002 on Nagel-Heyer and enjoyed enthusiastic support from both jazz radio and critics alike. Spring 2005 marked the release of his second recording, The Path to Delphi. The recording took the next step in Gibson's musical journey featuring a new crop of original compositions tinged with the essence of classic 60's era Blue Note recordings, yet informed by his modern sensibilities. His horn sings over the lyrical melodies under the steady support of his able-bodied rhythm section. The Path to Delphi rekindled Gibson's lengthy musical relationship with saxophonist Wayne Escoffery while also featuring acclaimed trumpeter Randy Brecker. Renown jazz lover and radio personality, Bob Parlocha, placed Delphi in his personal Top 40 Jazz Releases. "This recording was very different from my first. This music represents exactly where I am creatively, at present. I wrote the music over a 2 year period and was very fortunate to have a group of musicians to act as a laboratory as I sought different timbres." David received a BA from the University of Central Oklahoma, where he studied privately with Dr. Kent Kidwell, and Lee Rucker. He later received his MM in Jazz Composition from the Eastman School of Music, where he served as an assistant to Fred Sturm and studied trombone with Dr. John Marcellus. Gibson has used his education and experiences to establish a reputation as an educator. He currently serves as an adjunct instructor at Columbia University, SUNY Geneseo, the New School and the Fraoli School of Music. |
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Christine Correa (voice)
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Vocalist Christine Correa is a native of Mumbai, India currently residing in New York. After relocating to the U.S, she soon became involved in a variety of improvisational contexts. Christine has performed and recorded with artists such as Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, John LaPorta, etc. and has appeared at numerous festivals and clubs in the U.S, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. She is a member of the Frank Carlberg Quintet which is dedicated to performing Carlberg’s settings of 20th (and 21st) century poets such as Robert Creeley, Anselm Hollo, Jack Kerouac, etc. Christine is Director of the Maine Jazz Camp – a camp for high school and middle school students. |
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Brad Jones (bass) Having been enriched in a very fertile musical background has enabled bassist/composer Brad Jones to cultivate a strong presence in music scenes both abroad and in his native home of New York City. Like a majority of kids born in Harlem in the sixties, Brad was exposed to a strong sonic palette of James Brown, Motown, The Beatles, and Caribbean styles. He learned to play the drums at a very early age but then switched his interest towards the electric bass in his teen years. He started to grow more of an appreciation for Jazz which eventually influenced him into studying the upright bass.
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Ole resides
in New York where he is a film and TV composer, record producer,
and arranger. He is a critically acclaimed saxophonist, and he is
an active performer on the New York scene, as well as touring internationally
and working as a studio musician. His scope of interest spans classical,
jazz, electronic, ethnic, and experimental music, and he draws heavily
on his wealth of musical experience in his composing. He is a seasoned
jazz and saxophone educator, and has conducted clinics and given
private lessons in many parts of the world, including Japan, Norway,
Sweden, France, Germany, Canada, and USA. |
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Ole has worked
on more than 80 albums, composed several film and TV scores, and
has performed and/or recorded with: Education |
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Tony
Moreno (drums)
New-York-based drummer Tony Moreno is simply one of the most sought after musicians of his profession. He tours all around the world and teaches at New York University Jazz Program. He also teaches at City College of New York, and has done many clinics in France, Canada, Spain, Germany, Denmark and the US. Tony worked with Mal Waldron, Bill Frisell, Sonny Fortune, Sal Nistico, Palle Danielsson, Paul McCandless, Elvin Jones, Dave Liebman, Paul Bley, Phillip Catherine, Sam Rivers, Billy Drewes, Jaki Byard, Jimmy Lions, Richie Beirach, Jim Pepper, Chico Freeman, Peter Warren, Haze Greenfield, Joe Newman, Anne-Marie Moss, Jay Anderson, The Jazz Passengers, Uffe Markussen, Ricky Ford, Kenny Wheeler, Jorge Sylvester, Bruce Arnold, Barry Harris, Doug Raney, Gene Shimosato, Chris Potter, Michel Portal, Steffano Bataglia, Frank Foster, Harvie Swartz, Billy Harper, Steve Amirault, Ratzo Harris, Mino Cinelu, Joey Calderazzo, John Purcell, The Lounge Lizards, Dave Kikoski, Bob Rockwell, Tiger Okoshi, Ira Coleman, Marc Ribot, Ravi Coltrane, Marc Copland, Bob Belden, Dean Johnson, Russ Lossing, Jim Snidero, Roberto Bonati, Jack Walrath, Aydin Essen, Lonnie Plaxico, Ben Besiakow, Mark Feldman, Dave Stryker, Gary Thomas, Tim Hagans, Mike Formanek, Pierre Favre and many more. Tony can be heard on CDs of the following labels: CBS-Sony EMI, Owl, Polydor/Polygram, BMG, Antilles, Acoustic Artists, King, NuJazz, Naxos jazz4ever, Soulnote, Nueva Records, AA Records, Splasch Records, Axis Records, Cathexis Records, Cathexis Records, and many more. Videos/Laserdisks: Elvin Jones A different drummer (Rhapsody), Barry Harris Live in Europe (CCS), Barry Harris Jazz Concert in Madrid (TVR), Lounge Lizards Live at Shinenken Hall-Tokyo (Columbia). Webcasts: Mordy Ferber Quartet 'live' at the Blue Note with Dave Liebman and Richard Bona David Phillips & Freedance RadioFrance Mordy Ferber Quartet 'live' at the Blue Note with George Garzone & Eddie Gomez.
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The New York
Times says: "Mr. Waltzer
is a young jazz pianist who is interested in a meaty, rhythmic sound,
delicately exotic harmony and organized small-group composition
with strong melodic motion. It's sort of a new take on Duke Ellington's
legacy, |
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“There’s
a seat on the train next to fellow young pianists Bruce Barth, Brad
Mehldau, Ethan Iverson and Bill Charlap. It belongs to Ben Waltzer whose
taste and talent rival his peers.” Michael G. Nastos, All-Music
Guide
Ben Waltzer is from
Lansing, Michigan and attended high school at the
Interlochen Arts Academy, where he won awards from Downbeat magazine and
the
National Association of Jazz Educators. He then enrolled in a double-degree
program at the New England Conservatory -- where he studied with pianists
Geri Allen and Bevan Manson, and saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre -- and Tufts
University. In 1991 Mr. Waltzer transferred to Harvard University to pursue
a degree in American History and Literature. While at Harvard, he wrote
a
thesis on the jazz historian, essayist and novelist Albert Murray. He
graduated magna cum laude in 1993 and was the recipient of Harvard’s
Braverman Award for artistic excellence.
Mr. Waltzer then moved to New York and got a steady gig on New York’s
lower-east side, enabling him to perform with a wide range of dedicated
young jazz musicians, including Bill McHenry, Reid Anderson, Jorge Rossy,
and Leon Parker and Mark Turner. In 1996 he recorded his first cd, “For
Good,” featuring Mr. Rossy, and bassist Reid Anderson for the burgeoning
Fresh Sound/New Talent record label. Later that year, Mr. Waltzer moved
to
Barcelona for eight months to perform and teach, and recorded “Jazz
is Where
You Find It: Live at the Pipa Club” with the tenor saxophonist Bill
McHenry,
which Cuadernos De Jazz named the third-best worldwide jazz release of
1997.
Cadence magazine called his latest record, “In Metropolitan Motion”
(2000) a
“winner because it revels in the jazz tradition rather than exploits
it.”
Allaboutjazz.com referred to it as an “inspired statement”.
Jazz Times
magazine recently hailed it the strongest of Fresh Sound’s latest
releases.
Mr. Waltzer recently completed a tour of Europe, performing in Spain,
Switzerland, and at the MIDEM conference in Cannes, France. He teaches
jazz
piano at Columbia University and the Maine Jazz Camp, and writes about
jazz
for The New York Times, Jazziz and other publications. His new record,
100
Dreams Ago, featuring Gerald Cleaver and Matt Penman is forthcoming on
Fresh
Sound records.
Steve Wilson (saxophone) "Adept in almost any setting, Wilson has the rare ability to say more with less, and to let the space between each note breathe and resonate." (George Varga, The San Diego Tribune) It is these qualities that have earned STEVE WILSON the enviable position of being on the bandstand, and in the studio with the greatest names in jazz. He is also "gifted with fabulous technique and a first-rate sense of what's musical" (Dan Neal, The Palm Beach Post), qualities that have earned him critical acclaim as a bandleader. A musician's musician, Wilson had been documented on over 80 recordings with the likes of Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Dianne Reeves, O.T.B., Donald Brown, Billy Childs, Don Byron, Bill Stewart, James Williams, and Mulgrew Miller.
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Wilson
has six recordings under his own name. His sidemen read as a who's
who: Lewis Nash, Cyrus Chestnut, Kevin Hays, Steve Nelson, Gregory
Hutchinson, Dennis Irwin, James Genus, Larry Grenedier, Ray Drummond,
Ben Riley, Mulgrew Miller, Nicholas Payton, and his current working
quartet of Bruce Barth, Ed Howard and Adam Cruz.
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