EDUCATION

Columbia University, New York, New York
1998 Doctor of Philosophy in Music (Ethnomusicology).
  Dissertation: Performance and Musical Meaning: Analyzing “Jazz” on the New York Scene.
1995 Master of Philosophy in Music (Ethnomusicology).
1993 Master of Arts in Music (Ethnomusicology).
  Master’s Thesis: Become Like One: Communication, Interaction, and the Development of Group Sound in Jazz Performance.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1991 Bachelor of Arts in African-American Studies
  Honor’s Thesis: The Extended Works of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, 1943–1951: New Vistas in African-American Music.
  Graduated with distinction in major.


EMPLOYMENT

University of Chicago, Department of Music, Chicago, Illinois.
2003– Associate Professor of Music and the Humanities.

University of Chicago, Department of Music, Chicago, Illinois.
2000 Visiting Assistant Professor of Music.

University of Michigan, School of Music, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1997–2003 Assistant Professor of Musicology (Ethnomusicology).


HONORS AND AWARDS

2000–2001 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.
1999 Spring/Summer Research Grant, Horace W. Rackham School of Graduate Studies/Office of the Vice-President for Research, University of Michigan.
1992–1997 Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, Columbia University.
1992–1994 President’s Fellowship, Columbia University.
1993 Hewitt Panteleoni Prize for Best Student Paper at the meeting of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Washington, D.C., April 23–25.
1991–1992 George Edmund Haynes Fellowship, Columbia University.
1991 Emma L. Higginbotham Award for Scholarly Pursuits, awarded by the African American Association–Administrators, Faculty, and Staff, University of Pennsylvania.
1991 Nassau Fund Research Grant, Dean’s Office, University of Pennsylvania.
1990 Mellon Minority Undergraduate Research Program Summer Grant, University of Pennsylvania.
1989–1991 Mellon Minority Undergraduate Research Program.


PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND SERVICE

2004– Member. Society for Ethnomusicology Council.
2004– Director of Graduate Student Development. Music Department, University of Chicago.
2004– Chair. Graduate Teaching Committee. Music Department, University of Chicago.
2003 Screener. 2004 International Dissertation Field Research Grant competition (Social Science Research Council).
2002– Member. Editorial Board. Jazz Perspectives, University of Michigan Press. Lewis Porter, General Series Editor.
2002 Panelist. NEH Fellowships and Summer Stipends, Panel E: Music and Dance, Washington, DC, 24 July.
2001–03 Participant, Research and Pedagogy Team, EVIA (Ethnomusicological Video for Instruction and Analysis) Digital Archive, University of Michigan and Indiana University.
2001–03 Advisor to Undergraduate Musicology Majors, School of Music, University of Michigan.
2001–02 Member, Program Committee, 47th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Estes Park, CO, 23–27 October.
2001–02 Member, Executive Committee, Program in American Culture, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan.
2001 Events Coordinator, Local Arrangements Committee, 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusiclogy, Detroit, MI, 25–28 October.
2001 Panelist. NEH Fellowships and Summer Stipends, Panel E: Music and Dance, Washington, DC, 18 July.
2000 Panelist. NEH Fellowships and Summer Stipends, Panel F: Music and Dance, Washington, DC, 21 July.
2000 Focus Group Participant for Study of Jazz Musicians, a joint project of the National Endowment for the Arts and the San Francisco Study Center, administered by the Research Center for Arts and Culture, Columbia University Teacher’s College, Joan Jeffri, Project Director. 7 July.
1998–2003 Faculty Associate, Program in American Culture, University of Michigan.
1998–2003 Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of Musicology, University of Michigan.
1997–2000 Advisor to Music Concentrators in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
1995– Member, Jazz Study Group (an interdisciplinary African American studies faculty seminar funded by the Ford Foundation). Robert G. O’Meally, Columbia University, Director.
1995–1997 Secretary. Middle Atlantic Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology.
1993–1996 Editorial Board, Current Musicology.
1993–1995 Member and Co-Chair, Organizing Committee. Mellon Minority Undergraduate Program Summer Conference.
1992–1994 Research Assistant and Fieldworker for Dr. Katherine Newman, Columbia University, Department of Anthropology (now at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government). Results published in No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City (Knopf, 1999).


MEMBERSHIPS

2004– Society for American Music
1993– Society for Ethnomusicology
2000– American Studies Association
1992–1997 Middle Atlantic Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology
1992–1994 International Association for the Study of Popular Music


TEACHING

Jazz
Jazz Historiography
Jazz Scenes in Historical Perspective
The New York Jazz Scene since 1920
Ethnomusicology Proseminar
Ethnomusicology Field Methods
Media and Technology in Ethnomusicological Research
Introduction to World Music
World Popular Musics
The Concept Album
History of Music (American Music)
Musics of African Americans
Euro-American Folk and Popular Music
Introduction to the Literature of Music
Race, Place and Music in the Urban Present


PUBLICATIONS

In preparation
“In Search of the Lost Riddim: An Afro-Diasporic View of Jazz History” (article). Black Music Research Journal.
Under review
Blowin’ the Blues Away: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene, (book manuscript for University of California Press).
In press
 “Interpreting Jazz,” (article). African American Music: Chronology, Process and Practice, edited by Portia Maultsby and Mellonee Burnim (New York: Routledge).
2004
 “‘Always New and Centuries Old’: Jazz, Poetry, and Tradition as Creative Adaptation,” (article). Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, edited by Robert G. O’Meally, Brent Hayes Edwards and Farah Jasmine Griffin (New York: Columbia University Press):357–73.
2003
 “Jazz,” “Blues,” and 56 short, related articles. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed., edited by Don Michael Randel (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
2003
“Jazz as Musical Practice,” in The Cambridge Companion to Jazz, edited by David Horn and Mervyn Cooke, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 83–95.
2001
Review of Bebop: A Social and Musical History by Scott DeVeaux (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). Journal of the American Musicological Society 74: 405–12.
2001
Review of Every Tone a Testimony: An African American Aural History (audio recording). Yearbook for Traditional Music 33: 194.
2001
“Jazz” (Bibliography). New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan).
2000
“Spooning Good, Singing Gum: Meaning, Association, and Interpretation in Rock Music,” Current Musicology 69:7–41.
2000
Review of Black Appalachia (audio recording). Yearbook for Traditional Music 30:230–31.
2000
Review of Black Texicans (audio recording). Yearbook for Traditional Music 30:231.
2000
“Jazz Performance as Ritual: The Blues Aesthetic and the African Diaspora.” In The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective, edited by Ingrid Monson (New York: Garland), 23–82.
1998
Review of Voices of the Civil Rights Movement and Give Your Hands to Struggle (audio recordings). Yearbook for Traditional Music 30:191–2.
1997
Review of Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation by Paul Berliner (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994). Oral History Review 24(2):156–9.
1997
Review of Bebop: The Music and the Players by Thomas Owens (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995). American Music 15(2):249–52.
1996
In Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (New York: Macmillan):
“Art Ensemble of Chicago”
“Barron, Bill”
“Foster, Frank”
“Jordan, Louis”
“Nanton, Joseph (Tricky Sam)”
“Threadgill, Henry [Luther]”
“Tizol, Juan”
“World Saxophone Quartet.”
1996
Liner notes for Wycliffe Gordon and Ron Westray, Bone Structure. Compact disc, Atlantic 82936.
1996
“Of Roots, Beats, and Belief.” RhythmMusic Magazine. (September): 20–23.
1995
“A Jazzography.” New York Times Magazine, 25 June, 32–3.
1993
“Transmission and Regeneration: Generational Interaction in Jazz Performance.” Middle Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology Newsletter 12(2), 4–6.
1992
“Become Like One: Communication, Interaction, and the Development of Group Sound in Jazz Performance.” Master’s Thesis, Columbia University.


INVITED PRESENTATIONS

2004 “What’s Going On: Authorship, Accidents and the Concept Album.” Colloquium, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 25 October.
2004 “‘Out of This World’: Jazz Improvisation, Optimal Experience and Stylistic Change.” Presentation at New Directions in the Study of Musical Improvisation: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Conference, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1–4 April.
2004 “‘All the Things You Are’: The Changing Face(s) of Jazz Studies.” Keynote Address at Jazz Changes, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 1–4 March.
2004 “Multiple Reflections: Blues People as Blessing and Curse.” Presentation at Blues People: 40 Years Later, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, 6–7 February.
2003 “Armstrong as Myth and Icon.” Lecture, 3rd Annual Satchmo Summerfest, New Orleans, Louisiana, 3 August.
2003 “The Black Eclectic.” Colloquium, Music Department, University of California, Berkeley, 10 March.
2002 “In Search of the Lost Riddim: An Afro-Diasporic View of Jazz History.” Multiple Caribbeans: Performance, Displacement, Identities, an International Conference sponsored by the Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 25–27 April.
2001 “Diasporic Interactions: The Interconnections between Jazz and Afro-Caribbean Musics.” Inter-American Conference on Black Music Research (sponsored by the Center for Black Music Research and the Society for American Music), Port of Spain, Trinidad, 24–27 May.
2000 “Oscar Peterson’s Influence on Modern Jazz Piano Playing.” Society for American Music Tribute to Oscar Peterson, Toronto, Canada, 2 November.
2000 “Scenes and Aesthetics: Writing the History of Now.” Presentation in Jazz Seminar, Prof. Chris Washburne, Columbia University, New York, New York, 27 September.
2000 “From the Woodshed to Melodic Minors: The Impact of Jazz Education on Musical Development.” Newport Jazz Festival Symposium, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, 9–10 August.
2000 “In the Tradition: Race, Culture, History and Memory in 1990s Jazz.” Colloquium, Music Department, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 26 May.
2000 “‘What Is This Tradition Basied On?’: Baraka, Murray, McCall and Jazz/Poetry Collaboration.” Rhythm-a-ning: A Symposium on Jazz , Columbia University, 5–7 May.
1999 “Ellington Abroad: The Politics and Musicality of Black Worldliness.” Joint lecture with Penny von Eschen. Center for Jazz Studies, Columbia University, New York, New York, 30 November.
1999 “Tourist Point of View: Ellington’s Musical Souvenirs.” Duke Ellington Society, New York Chapter, 40th Anniversary Celebration, New York, New York, 13 November.
1999 “Tourist Point of View: Ellington’s Musical Souvenirs.” Duke Ellington: The First 100 Years, Symposium at Jazz em Agosto, sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal, 29–30 July.
1999 “Flavor, Flow and Repetition: The Aesthetics of Hip-Hop.” Center for Black Music Research, Chicago, Illinois, 26 April.
1998 “Ready to Receive: An Ethnographic View of Jazz and Spirituality.” Washington University Music Department Fall Lecture Series (co-sponsored by African American Studies), St. Louis, Missouri, 3 December.
1998 “Spooning Good, Singing Gum: Notes of the Meanings of Rock.” MELOS Colloquium, Institute for the Humanities, University of Michigan, 17 November.
1998 “Wynton Marsalis: The Fiddler’s Tale.” Pre-concert lecture for the University Musical Society, University of Michigan, 24 April.
1997 “In the Studio and in the Digital Realm: Enlarging the Concept of the Composer in African American Music.” Presentation at Symposium on the Composer in African American Musical Traditions, University of Michigan, 25 September.
1997 “‘There’s No Separation’: Pathways, Practices, and the African Americanness of Jazz.” Colloquium, Music Department, Columbia University, 31 March.
1997 “‘Bringing Something to the Music’: Levels of Interaction in Jazz Performance.” Colloquium, School of Music, University of Michigan, 24 March.
1996 “Different Ways of Saying Something: Searching for Meaning in Jazz Performance.” Presentation at the Columbia University Music Department Centennial Celebration, 18 October.
1994 “In the Aftermath of Punk: New Wave, New Romance, and the Beginnings of College/Alternative Rock.” Guest Lecture in “History of Rock and Roll.” Daniel Ferguson, Professor. Columbia University, 21 April.
1994 “Keeping Score, Off the Record: The Role of Recordings in Jazz Historiography and Analysis.” Presentation for the Columbia University Music Department Brown Bag Lecture Series, Columbia University, 16 February.


OTHER PRESENTATIONS

2004 “‘Honking on One Note’: The Texas Tenor Sound and Its Challenge to Jazz Discourse.” Paper presented at the joint meeting of the Society for American Music and the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Cleveland, Ohio, 10–14 March.
2002 “Blending Jazz and Afro-Caribbean Musics.” Joint presentation with Lawrence McClellan (Berklee School of Music, Boston, Massachusetts), National Association of Music Educators Biennial, Nashville, Tennessee, 10–13 April.
2000 “In the Tradition: Race, Culture, History and Memory in 1990s Jazz.” Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Toronto, Canada, 2–5 November.
1999 “Big City to Small Town, Student to Faculty, Dissertation to Book: The Experiences and Transitions of a Recent Ph.D.” SSRC-Mellon Summer Conference, Brown University, 24–27 July.
1997 “The ‘Blues Aesthetic’ and the Jazz Performance Ritual: Jazz as Equipment for Living.” Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 23–26 October.
1997 “‘What Are You Gonna Do With That?’: Jazz, Fieldwork, and the Ethics of Knowing.” Paper presented at the SSRC-Mellon Summer Conference, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, 26–29 June.
1996 “The History of and Issues Relating to Women in Jazz Performance.” Presentation to the Jazz Study Group, Columbia University Institute for Research in African-American Studies, 24 February.
1995 “‘Takin’ It to Another Level’: Creating Flow in Jazz Performance.” Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Los Angeles, California, 19–22 October.
1993 “Veterans and Young Lions: The Role of Age in the Formation and Development of Small Jazz Groups.” Paper presented at the Seventh International Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, 11–15 July.
1993 “Where’s Your Girl?: African American Women and the Ritual of Jazz Performance.” Paper presented at Feminist Theory and Music II: A Continuing Discussion, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 17–20 June.
1993 “Transmission and Regeneration: Generational Interaction in Jazz Performance.” Paper presented at the meeting of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Washington, DC, 23–25 April.
1992 “Communication, Interaction, and the Group Concept: A Study of Performed Jazz.” Paper presented at the United States meeting of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, 2–4 October.