Faculty Members Who Not Only Play, But Teach Jazz!
There are dozens of good reasons to study jazz at UCLA, starting with George
Bohannon and running all the way through the alphabet to Gerald and Anthony
Wilson. The Jazz Studies faculty includes some of the finest musicians and
scholars in jazz, people who can play and people who can enrich our understanding
of the music with theoretical analysis and scholarly research—and several
people who can do both.
Herbie Hancock has said it’s the finest jazz faculty in the United States.
Here are the people who support that assertion.
Programming Faculty
George Bohanon was the first trombonist hired by Motown Records, accompanying
Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and many others. In 1980, he was named
most valuable player by the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Roberto Miranda has toured, recorded, and played with an impressive array
of jazz artists and records extensively with his own group, showcasing a blend
of African American, Latin, and experimental jazz. He has won two grants from
the National Endowment for the Arts.
Barbara Morrison sings the blues everywhere from the Playboy Jazz Festival
to Carnegie Hall, where her performance was likened to the work of Ella Fitzgerald.
She is founder of a school of music in Inglewood, California, and also works
in theater.
Charles Owens plays a variety of woodwinds with a list of musical greats.
His baritone saxophone solo on “Sophisticated Lady” was a highlight of the
Grammy award-winning Ellington album, Hot and Bothered. He also participates
in the Jazz in Schools program.
Ruth Price, singer of jazz and American popular song, founded The Jazz Bakery,
a performance space where her own work is a major attraction. While teaching
new singers diction and movement on stage, she continues to receive critical
acclaim for her work.
Bobby Rodriguez is a trumpeter and composer who recently earned a Grammy nomination
for his recording, Latin Jazz Explosion. Each year, he speaks and performs
in concert at hundreds of high schools and colleges around the country.
Michele Weir was vocalist for the Grammy-nominated Phil Mattson and the PM
Singers. Her compositions have been performed by symphony orchestras and featured
in films and television, and she works internationally as a jazz clinician
/ adjudicator.
James Newton is one of the world’s true flute virtuosos in numerous musical idioms. His work encompasses chamber, symphonic, and electronic music genres, compositions for ballet and modern dance, and numerous jazz and world music contexts.
Charley Harrison
Clayton Cameron
Tamir Hendelman
Wolf Marshall