JAZZ EDUCATION NETWORK
Trineice Robinson-Martin
Ensemble Department Chair,
Berklee College of Music
José Diaz
Founder/Artistic Director, Diaz Music Institute
Founder/Artistice Director, Houston Latin Jazz Ensemble
David Kauffman is currently the Senior Manager of the Apex Arts Magnet program in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. For over thirty years, he has served in various roles as an educator, clinician, adjudicator, guest conductor, performer, promoter, businessman, and elected official.
Performance credits as a saxophonist include Aretha Franklin, Louie Bellson, and The Dells. He was the founder of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra, a collegiate honors band whose performance credits include Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Jazz Education Network National Conference in New Orleans. For eight years, he hosted a weekly jazz radio program, “Searching for Birdland” on NPR Affiliate WFWM.
He has received numerous awards over the years for his work as an educator and community engagement, and was recently inducted in the Maryland Music Educators Hall of Fame.
Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin has dedicated her career to performing and developing resources for teaching jazz, gospel/Christian, R&B, rock, country, and pop singing styles in an applied/private voice lesson setting. In addition to releasing her debut album, All Or Nothing, she maintains a busy schedule as a singer in a variety of styles while holding a faculty position at Princeton University as the jazz voice instructor, lecturer, and director of the
Jazz Vocal Collective Ensemble. She serves on the National Faculty in the academic division of Gospel Music Workshop of America, serves as the Executive Director of the African American Jazz Caucus, Inc., serves as a Board of Director for the Jazz Education Network, serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Singing, and is a member of the distinguished American Academy of Teachers of Singing. Dr. Trineice created Soul Ingredients®, a teaching methodology for developing a singer’s musical style/interpretation in African American folk-based music styles (i.e., jazz, gospel, R&B, blues, etc.). This methodology shows students how to take their personal experiences, musical influences and models, and execute the different components in a manner that is personal to the singer/performer’s own personal expression.
2022 GRAMMY Music Educator Award Finalist and Yamaha Performing ArtistBethany Robinson currently serves as the Director of Jazz at Purdue University (July, 2024) after serving as a Jazz Director in the Noblesville (IN) School District.
In 2011, Bethany received her first Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant, and traveled to New Orleans and New York City, exploring the current trends of jazz in those two cities. She experienced dozens of jazz shows, attended the Band Director Academy at Jazz at Lincoln Center, composed her first piece for big band, and came home to Noblesville High School with a whole new concept of jazz pedagogy at the secondary level. Upon returning from this experience, her jazz program at Noblesville expanded from 1 to 6 high school big bands, and the top band made regular appearances at the ISSMA Indiana Jazz State Finals, placing first in 2023, first place finishes at both Ball State and Purdue University Jazz Festivals, and was a 2-time finalist for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington Festival and Competition.
In 2014, Bethany was named “Indiana Jazz Educator of the Year” by the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation. In 2015, she was named “Teacher of the Year” for Noblesville Schools, the 11th largest public high school in Indiana. In 2016, Bethany was a Semi-Finalist for Indiana Teacher of the Year. She is a 2022 Grammy Music Educator Award Finalist, 4x nominee, and was named one of the 2022 Jazz Heroes by the Jazz Journalists Association, which honors advocates who have had a significant impact in their local communities. Bethany was also recently named the 2023 “High School Music Educator of the Year” by the Indiana Music Educator Association.
Bethany currently serves as Chair of the National Association for Music Education Jazz Council (NAfME), Jazz Education Network NAfME Liaison Board Member, and President of the Indiana Jazz Educators Association. During her time as IJEA President, she spearheaded efforts to create the All-District Jazz Program, a Junior All-State Jazz Ensemble, began a partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and partnered with IJF Artistic Director Rob Dixon to feature the Indiana All-State Jazz Combo at the annual Indy Jazz Fest.
In 2018, Bethany was a part of the inaugural Indiana Jazz Girls Day, traveling around the state playing bass at concerts and workshops with New York City Musicians Leni Stern, Jamie Baum, and Austria-based Monika Herzig. She continues to travel with this group annually in the spring, playing bass and serving as a clinician at workshops around the state of Indiana, inspiring young jazz musicians to be leaders on the bandstand.
Bethany received her second Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant, and spent the summer of 2019 exploring the Brazilian cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, taking in the sounds of choro, Bossa nova, and samba while exploring her mother’s childhood home, creating music for her students, and collaborating with local Brazilian musicians.
Bethany has been a featured presenter for music education students at Ball State University, Butler University, Vanderbilt University, for community members at the Center for Performing Arts/Palladium (Carmel, Indiana), and has adjudicated events including the Benny Golson Jazz Festival at Butler University, the Clark Terry Jazz Festival at Southeast Missouri State University, and the Western Australian Schools’ Jazz Festival, and the Elizabeth City State University Max Roach Centennial. She has also adjudicated the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Newark Academy New Jersey Essentially Ellington Regionals as a representative for Jazz at Lincoln Center. In September 2021, Bethany was a keynote speaker for the Australia National Band and Orchestra Conference, speaking on topics like building jazz culture, teaching jazz for those new to jazz, and building leaders through the Jazz Girls Day Event. Bethany was also a presenter at the 2022 Indiana Music Educators Conference, the 2022 International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, IL, the Oklahoma Bandmasters Summer Convention, and was the keynote speaker for the 2023 New York State Summer Music Conference. In 2024 Bethany led workshops at the Music For All National Concert Band Festival and workshops and clinics in Perth, Western Australia. Bethany also served as the chief adjudicator for the Victoria Schools’ Jazz Festival in Melbourne, and in December will be the Guest Conductor for the 2024 New York All State Jazz Ensemble.
As an avid performer on upright bass, electric bass, and vocals Bethany has performed over the years at the Indy jazz Fest, Indianapolis Jazz Kitchen, The Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel Jazz Fest, the Indianapolis Zoo Jazz Series, Zoobliation, and Irish Fest with many artists including Everett Greene, Sarah Scharbrough, and Katherine Nagy, and has opened for YAMAHA Artist Dave Koz.
José Antonio Díaz, founder and artistic director of Díaz Music Institute (DMI), is a Grammy Nominated Top 10 Finalist for the Music Educator, winner of Berklee College of Music’s John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year Award and a recipient of the Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Award. Recently Inducted into Down Beat Magazine’s Jazz Education Hall of Fame, Díaz’s has groups have performed with such Candido, Pete Escovedo, Jon Faddis, Eddie Palmieri, Danilo Perez, Poncho Sánchez, and Arturo Sandoval to name just a few.
Jose is also co-author of Middle School Music Expressions™ (Alfred Music Publication) and composed the music forFreddie the Frog and the Invisible Coquí(Mystic Publishing, Inc.), which was selected as Creative Child’s Magazine’s 2016 book of the year. Currently Diaz is developing a new jazz curriculum entitled “About That Jazz.”
NYC-based drummer/composer/teacher Allison Miller engages her deep roots in improvisation as a vehicle to explore all music. Described by Paste magazine as a “Modern Jazz Icon in the Making,” Miller has released 17 albums as a leader or co-leader and has collaborated with artists such as Myra Melford, the Oakland Symphony, Derrick Hodge, American Ballet Theater, the One O’Clock Lab Band, Toshi Reagon, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Michelle Dorrance, Alan Baylock, Jenny Scheinman, Renee Rosnes, Ingrid Jensen, Carmen Staaf, Todd Sickafoose, Brandi Carlile, Camille A. Brown, Natalie Merchant, Scott Colley, Dayna Stephens, and Ani DiFranco.
The critics named Miller Rising Star Drummer in Downbeat magazine’s 67th Annual Critics Poll and Best Jazz Drummer in Jazz Times’s 2019 Critics Poll. Her composition, “Otis Was a Polar Bear,” is included on NPR’s list of The 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women+. She is also the first recipient of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Commissioning Grant. The product of this commission is Miller’s immersive award winning multi-media song cycle, Rivers In Our Veins, dedicated to and celebrating America’s waterways. The studio version of Rivers In Our Veins was released October 2023 and has received critical acclaim, including NPR’s 50 Best Albums of 2023 and 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2023. “Extraordinary composing, orchestrating, band-leading, and a sophisticated, engaged and playful ensemble characterize Rivers in Our Veins, Allison Miller’s ninth album.” – Downbeat
Miller, a three time Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department and Monterey Jazz Festival Artist in Residence alumni, has also released five albums with her longtime band, Boom Tic Boom. Named Jazz Journalist Association’s Small Ensemble of the Year, the band has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe and Asia as well as being featured on such programs as NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Tiny Desk, WNYC’s Soundcheck and New Sounds with John Schaefer, and Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride.
While breaking from band-leading, Miller focuses on collaborations, co-directing Lux Quartet with Myra Melford, and Blue Note recording supergroup Artemis. Artemis has been named Jazz Group of the Year in Downbeat’s 88th and 89th Annual Reader’s Poll and International Jazz Group of the Year for two years running. Miller also composes for the gaming company Cloud Chamber/ 2K.
As a side-musician, she has been the rhythmic force behind such artists as Sara Bareilles, Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant, Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Patricia Barber, Marty Ehrlich, Ben Allison, and Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Music education has always been an important part of Miller’s 30 year career. She is the 2025-2026 Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar in Jazz Studies at Berklee College of Music’s Harmony and Composition Department and recently joined the Jazz EducationNetwork’s Board of Directors. Miller, also a recipient of Capitol Hill Foundation’s DC Jazz Leaders in Service Award and Yamaha’s Educational Legacy Award, teaches at the Peabody Institute at John’s Hopkins, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Stanford Jazz Workshop, Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz, Jazz Academy Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and is the Artistic Director of Jazz Camp West in La Honda, California.
Miller is a contributor to the groundbreaking book, New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers, created by Terri Lyne Carrington and published by Berklee Press/Hal Leonard. She proudly endorses Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Evans drumheads and Sunhouse percussion.
Born and raised in a small town in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Alan Baylock has composed music that is performed throughout the world. One of the most respected and sought-after jazz composers and educators in the industry today, he is the director of the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band at the University of North Texas, and previously served 20 years as Chief Arranger for the USAF Airmen of Note in Washington, D.C. The Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra recorded three critically-acclaimed CDs and performed throughout the United States for 15 years. Baylock graduated from Shenandoah University (BME 1990), where he later became Jazz Composer-in-Residence, and the University of North Texas (MM 1994).
Baylock travels extensively as guest conductor and clinician, and has been featured with close to 100 professional, collegiate, high school (all-state and regional) and middle school jazz ensembles. Alan is on faculty at the National Jazz Workshop (NJW) and directed the NJW All-Star Big Band in performances on the East and West Coast. Thanks to the Nu Psi Chapter, Alan became an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha in 2016, and became an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi (Kappa Epsilon Chapter) in 2017. He is an active member of the Jazz Education Network.
Alan’s music has been performed and/or recorded by jazz greats Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath, Michael Brecker, Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, Joe Lovano, Paquito D’Rivera, Melissa Aldana, Phil Woods, Arturo Sandoval, David Liebman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kenny Werner, Joshua Redman, Stefon Harris, Jerry Bergonzi, Nicholas Payton, Sean Jones, Tierney Sutton, Kurt Elling and many more. His eclectic talents have also led him to writing music for Roy Clark, Lee Greenwood, Wynonna, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Spyro Gyra, Ronan Tynan, and symphony orchestras throughout the United States and abroad. His music is published by Alfred Music and ProJazzCharts.com.
Baylock lives in Denton, Texas with his wife, cellist Maria Baylock. In his spare time, Alan is an avid ping-pong player and a budding golfer.
Steven Bulmer is a professional bassist, tubist, educator, and arts advocate whose career uniquely bridges music, technology, and nonprofit leadership. After more than 40 years in information technology and strategic planning, Steven retired from the technology sector in 2017 to devote himself full-time to performing, teaching, and advancing jazz education.
Steven serves on the faculty at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches both jazz and classical bass, directs four student jazz combos, and performs with the UConn Faculty Jazz Combo. Beyond the university, he maintains a private teaching studio and regularly coaches high school jazz ensembles and rhythm sections throughout the greater Hartford area. His contributions to music education also include selecting the bass repertoire for the Connecticut Music Educators Association All-State Jazz Auditions and serving as a conference adjudicator.
An active performer, Steven is the leader and bassist of the New England Jazz Ensemble, a nonprofit ensemble dedicated to commissioning, performing, and recording new works, with six recordings to its credit. He also leads his own jazz quintet, The Hall Monitors, and is a highly sought-after bassist for concerts, productions, and recording projects throughout New England.
Steven’s dual-career background has made him an invaluable leader within arts organizations. He serves as Secretary of the Hartford Jazz Society, where he oversees many of the organization’s technology operations, including Google Workspace administration, website management, digital communications, social media strategy, and content development. As Chair of the Education Committee, he has also played a significant role in organizational growth and fundraising, initiating, writing, or co-authoring more than $500,000 in successful grant proposals.
An accomplished grant writer, Steven has secured funding from organizations including the New England Foundation for the Arts, Chamber Music America, South Arts, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Richard P. Garmany Fund, and numerous regional grantmakers.
Through his combined expertise as an educator, performer, nonprofit leader, technologist, and advocate, Steven brings a thoughtful, strategic perspective and a deep commitment to strengthening jazz education and the arts community.
Grammy-nominated artist, Tia Fuller works hard to balance both worlds of performance and education. She is a full-time professor at the Berklee College of Music, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, (Magna Cum Laude) and a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder (Summa Cum Laude). Tia was selected to be a member of the all-female band touring with R&B star, Beyoncé.
As a Professor at Berklee College of Music, she also shares her expertise teaching over 70 students per week; directing the Rainbow Big Band and All Stars, the Esperanza Ensemble, repertoire class, jazz improvisation, two jazz combos, and the Christian Mcbride Ensemble. In addition, she produces and directs large production ground-breaking ensembles such as the Beyonce, Bruno Mars and Ariana Grande Ensembles. Between balancing her teaching and tour life, Tia feels that she is fulfilling her purpose here on this earth, that is to “serve as a light for others.”
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, GRAMMY Award® winning jazz vocalist Sara Gazarek reigns as one of the most creative voices of her generation, and one “who may well turn out to be the next important jazz singer” (Los Angeles Times). Collaborating with jazz legends Fred Hersch, Billy Childs, Kurt Elling, and more, and with 6 critically-acclaimed albums under her belt at the age of 42, Gazarek often tours internationally as a soloist/band leader, and as a co-founder of the vocal collective, säje, whose debut album earned a GRAMMY Award® for Best Arrangement Instruments and Vocals. Sara is a 2023 Chamber Music of America New Jazz Works grant recipient, serves as National Trustee for the Recording Academy, and works as an Associate Professor of Jazz Voice at the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) where she designed and now leads their brand new jazz voice program. Sara’s full length nonet project, an expansion of her critically celebrated EP Vanity, is set to release in Fall of 2025.
Ayn Inserto is a groundbreaking composer who is emerging as one of the preeminent voices of her generation. She received her Master of Music degree in Jazz Composition from the New England Conservatory and is a winner of the IAJE/ASCAP Emerging Composer Commission honoring Frank Foster and the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers’ Awards. She was picked by Bob Brookmeyer to study jazz composition as his protege.
Her music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Dizzy’s Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC), the Berklee Performance Center, JEN Conferences, Reno Jazz Festival, Billy Higgins Jazz Festival, New England Conservatory of Music, Brown University, Montreux Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival, McGill University, Senigallia, Italy, Terni Jazz Festival, the Sant’ Elpidio Jazz Festival, and the Fano Jazz Festival.
Inserto has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the NYO Jazz Ensemble, The Jazz Education Network, ASCAP/IAJE, the Commission Project for JazzMN, Madison Technical College, Amherst College, Cal State University East Bay, Los Medanos College, Foxboro High School, Harvard Jazz Band, Marin Catholic High School, Fairfield High School, and Jennifer Wharton. She has given masterclasses and clinics at the Panama Jazz Festival, Brown University, IMEP Paris College of Music, International College of Music in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Seoul Jazz Academy, Tokyo School of Music, Singapore Polytechnic, Arcevia Jazz Seminar, Rossini Conservatory of Music, and the Sydney Conservatorium.
Inserto has served as a panelist for the Jazz Improv Convention with Dr. Billy Taylor, the Tribute to Bob Brookmeyer at New England Conservatory and the International Society of Jazz Composers. She also has been a clinician for the JENerations Jazz Festival, an adjudicator for the Berklee High School Jazz Festival, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship, the Massachusetts Council for the Arts Composition Fellowship, JEN Young Composers’ Showcase and the International Alliance for Women in Music Jazz Composition Contest. She also has been a mentor for the Women in Jazz Organization.
Her big band, the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, has recorded three albums with special guests Bob Brookmeyer, John Fedchock, George Garzone and Sean Jones. The ensemble has garnered many positive reviews such as Downbeat Editor’s Pick, The Boston Globe 2018 Best Jazz Albums, Top Ten Recordings of 2018 (Cadence Magazine) and the Jazz Journalists Association Best of 2018 (Large Ensemble) List. She currently resides in Boston where she is a Professor of Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music.
Mary Jo Papich, the first president of JEN, is known for her avid support and leadership in arts education that led to the co-founding of the Jazz Education Network. After serving public school education for 35+ years, she continues her work in JEN and serves as the artistic director for Jazz Festivals for students in New Orleans and Puerto Vallarta. Mary Jo’s recent honors include receiving a Lifetime Jazz Education Achievement Award from DownBeat magazine, the Arts Inspiration Award from The Art Center, Superintendent’s Recognition Award, Character Counts Award, Huespid Distinguido from the Mayor in Puerto Vallarta and the Prestigious Women in Jazz Award from the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, and most recently the 2021 Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Jazz Education Award.
Mary Jo’s efforts have reached people all around the world. As a former student stated, “Mary Jo Papich continues to inspire those around her to pursue the arts and arts education with passion, making a positive difference today and in the generations beyond.”
Randal Rosman is a veteran nonprofit leader with several years of extensive experience in the sector. As the vice President of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable foundation, Randal has significantly expanded the organization’s impact and reach. Randal is passionate about jazz in the nonprofit space and continues to inspire others through his unwavering dedication to America’s original art form.
Adonis Rose is a Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer, educator, producer, arts executive, Cold Plunge recording artist, and international cultural ambassador whose career has distinguished him as one of the leading voices in contemporary jazz and one of the foremost advocates for the preservation and advancement of New Orleans music and culture.
Over more than three decades, Rose has built a career that seamlessly bridges artistic excellence, higher education, nonprofit leadership, cultural diplomacy, and international collaboration. Whether on the concert stage, in the classroom, in the recording studio, or in the boardroom, his work reflects a lifelong commitment to creating opportunities for artists, strengthening communities, and ensuring that the traditions of New Orleans continue to inspire audiences throughout the world.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rose grew up surrounded by one of the world’s richest musical traditions. He graduated from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and continued his studies at Berklee College of Music. Throughout his career he has performed and recorded with Betty Carter, Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Roberts, Nicholas Payton, Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Nnenna Freelon, Rene Marie, Phillip Manuel, and many other internationally acclaimed artists.
Rose served for a decade as Managing and Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and later as Executive Director of the NOCCA Foundation. Internationally, he serves as Artistic Director of Jazz Ascona in Switzerland and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Jazz Peccioli in Tuscany, Italy.
Bob Sinicrope is an internationally respected jazz educator, bassist, author, and clinician whose career has spanned more than five decades. After founding the Milton Academy Jazz Program in 1974, he led its remarkable growth until his retirement in 2024. Under his leadership, the program expanded from a single combo of six students to ten jazz ensembles serving more than seventy students annually. Without requiring auditions, the program welcomed musicians of all experience levels while earning numerous honors from DownBeat, MusicFest USA, Berklee College of Music, and the International Association for Jazz Education. Among its many distinguished alumni are acclaimed pianist Aaron Goldberg and saxophonist Steve Lehman.
Originally hired as a mathematics teacher, Bob’s passion for jazz inspired increasing numbers of students to participate in his classes, eventually leading him to become Milton Academy’s full-time jazz educator. His studies at Berklee College of Music, together with private instruction from Charlie Banacos, Hal Galper, Rufus Reid, Bob Gullotti, and Mick Goodrick, helped shape his teaching philosophy. His educational approach emphasizes learning by doing, developing strong ears through listening, and modeling classic jazz recordings. Each year his students were inspired by celebrating the music of jazz masters including Horace Silver, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Abdullah Ibrahim and Miles Davis.
Milton Academy ensembles performed at seven Jazz Education Network conferences, six International Association for Jazz Education conferences, twice at the White House, and at the North Sea, Fribourg, Vienne, and Montreux Jazz Festivals. They also shared the stage by opening for artists including Eric Alexander, Lynne Arriale, Hal Galper, Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Abdullah Ibrahim, Elvin Jones, Poncho Sanchez, James Taylor, Kenny Werner, and Victor Wooten.
His service to jazz education has been recognized with numerous honors. In 2024 Bob was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame for Jazz Education. He was the inaugural recipient of the John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year Award in 2007. In 2010 Bob received the National Youth Development Council Award, and the DownBeat Jazz Education Achievement Award.
An internationally sought-after clinician, Bob has presented workshops and masterclasses on six continents. His long-standing teaching appointments have included 40 years at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops with 15 of those years leading weekend workshops for guitar, bass and drum students, Victor Wooten Berklee Bass Workshops, Berklee Drum Workshops, 12 years at the Jazzwise Summer School in London, 21 years at the John Payne Music Center, and numerous universities. His numerous clinic presentations have covered jazz improvisation, walking bass lines, jazz bass history, technology in music education, and creative approaches to teaching beginning improvisers.
Bob has authored six Walking Bass Line Construction books published SherMusic that have been described as the most helpful guide to walking bass lines every published. His MakeMusic Cloud interactive jazz improvisation series have been used in more than sixty countries have been described as groundbreaking. He has authored articles for DownBeat, Bass Player, JAZZed, and School Band & Orchestra magazines, and contributed chapters to books including The Jazz Cookbook and the biography of South African bassist Johnny Dyani.
A founding leader of the Jazz Education Network, Bob served as JEN’s President from 2014 to 2016, becoming the first high school classroom teacher to lead a major international jazz education organization. During his presidency, JEN conferences attracted more than 3,500 participants annually and featured keynote appearances by Herbie Hancock and Victor Wooten.
In 1991, NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim invited Milton Academy to South Africa in 1991. Bob has developed enduring educational partnerships throughout South Africa and Botswana. He has led thirteen student tours, completed additional teaching residencies, collaborated with institutions including Tshwane University, the Music Academy of Gauteng, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Botswana Society for Jazz Education, the Amy Foundation, and numerous township schools, while helping deliver more than $350,000 of donated musical instruments, books, and educational materials. These experiences continue to inspire his international educational initiatives and commitment to connecting young musicians through jazz.
As a bassist, Bob remains an active performer and bandleader with his World Leaders and SoundsGlobal groups. His performance credits include collaborations with many of jazz’s leading artists, including Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, George Garzone, Chris Potter, Papa Jo Jones, Billy Eckstine, Sean Jones, Matt Wilson, Victor Wooten, Boston Pops, Rufus Reid, Kenny Werner, and many others. Throughout his career, Bob has remained dedicated to inspiring students, building musical communities, and demonstrating the power of jazz to connect people across cultures.
Pharez Whitted is a performer, educator, composer, producer, clinician and was nominated for Independent Jazz Artist of the year in 2011. Pharez was named Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz for 2016 and inducted into the Shortridge High School Hall of Fame 2017. He is the coordinator of the Chicago division of the JALC Jazz in Schools program. He has taught at prestigious colleges and universities such as Wabash College, The Ohio State University and most recently Chicago State University. He is currently the Director of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO)Jazz Orchestra. Whitted has performed with such notable musicians such as Branford Marsalis, George Duke, Elvin Jones, Kirk Whalum, John Mellencamp, Nancy Wilson, Meshell Ndegeocello, Chaka Khan and Slide Hampton.
Dan is an Executive Vice President and head of litigation at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., a leading entertainment company focused on the production and distribution of film and television content. Prior to joining MGM, he practiced law at Gibson Dunn where his clients included major record labels, motion picture studios, television networks, literary publishers, video game developers, and other intellectual property rights holders. Dan received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. in Music from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas.
