David Baker (composer)

David Nathaniel Baker, Jr. ( born December 21, 1931 in Indianapolis ) is an American jazz trombonist ( and cellist ), composer, professor, jazz historian and jazz author.

Life and work

Baker studied ( completion 1954) and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. A career as a trombonist in the jazz scene of Indiana was stopped by a jaw injury ( he is also heard on Stratusphunk and Ezz - thetics by George Russell), after which he moved to the cello, but then prefer but struck a career as a composer and university teacher.

Later, Baker taught at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, but also had numerous guest professorships at other universities. His students include Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker. He is known for numerous jazz compositions partly symphonic character, the Third Stream attributed. He has received commissions, inter alia, of the New York Philharmonic, the Beaux Arts Trio, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Audubon String Quartet.

He was also very active in it, to document oral history of jazz. He has written numerous books on jazz, including one on improvisation technique.

He was chief conductor and artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

Awards and recognitions

Baker was nominated in 1973 for the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for a Grammy. He received Downbeat honors as a trombonist (New Star Award ) for his life's work and for the Jazz Education Hall of Fame. He also received the 1981 Hall of Fame Award from the National Association of Jazz Educators and 2000 Jazz Masters Fellowship of the state NEA Foundation.

Writings

• Jazz Improvisation: A Comprehensive Method for All Musicians. Alfred Publishing, 1988, ISBN 0,882,843,702th