Dianthe “Dee” Spencer is a Professor of Theatre and Dance and former Director of the School of Music at San Francisco State University where she founded the jazz studies undergraduate degree program in 1990. She earned and Ed.D from the University of San Francisco; M.M. from Washington University in St. Louis; and a B.S. from Florida A&M University. Dee served on the piano faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Dee served on the governing boards of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) and the SF Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). She is past director of the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship Award combo for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA), GRAMMY All-Star National High School Jazz Combo and the SFJAZZ All-Star High School Ensemble. The SFJAZZ ensemble was a finalist at the Essentially Ellington Competition for Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002 and 2003. Dee served as a performer and adjudicator/clinician at Walt Disney World’s 2010 Jazz Celebration.

As a keyboardist, Dee has recorded with former Tower of Power vocalist Lenny Williams and Aretha Franklin’s favorite drummer Bernard “Pretty” Perdie. She was a featured performer at the Beijing, Cork, Tasmanian, and Dresden International Jazz Festivals. In various settings, Dee has performed with jazz greats Jimmy Scott, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Branford Marsalis, John Handy, Greg Osby, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Regina Carter and R&B sensation LEDISI. In May 2015, Dee worked with Wynton Marsalis as a judge for the annual Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition. Her album “Tranquility” was released in August 2018.