Biography
Professor of Practice / Jazz & Composition – Texas State University School of Music
• MacDowell Norton Stevens Fellow in Composition, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellow in Jazz Composition (1979), Fulbright Senior Specialist in Jazz Studies, NEA Project Specialist
• Research Scholar, Institute of Jazz Studies – Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
• Recipient, Texas State University Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly / Creative Activities; featured in Spotlight on Excellence at Texas State; Dean’s Seminar Award recipient
• Distinguished Academic Member, International Conference on Visual and Performing Arts, Athens Institute for Education and Research (Athens, Greece)
• Pianist with the Grammy®-nominated jazz ensemble John Mills Times Ten
• Composer / Pianist, Double Vision™ – Austin jazz quartet performing all-original music
• Lifetime voting member, The GRAMMY® Awards
• 1st Place, National Association of Composers USA – Composer Competition
• Recipient, 2025 Aaron Copland Fund for Music Award for Performance Program
• Featured in national media, including All About Jazz (2025 Feature Author and Song of the Day) and Voyage Austin (2025 Artist Spotlight “Life, Values & Legacy”).
• MacDowell Norton Stevens Fellow in Composition, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellow in Jazz Composition (1979), Fulbright Senior Specialist in Jazz Studies, NEA Project Specialist
• Research Scholar, Institute of Jazz Studies – Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
• Recipient, Texas State University Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly / Creative Activities; featured in Spotlight on Excellence at Texas State; Dean’s Seminar Award recipient
• Distinguished Academic Member, International Conference on Visual and Performing Arts, Athens Institute for Education and Research (Athens, Greece)
• Pianist with the Grammy®-nominated jazz ensemble John Mills Times Ten
• Composer / Pianist, Double Vision™ – Austin jazz quartet performing all-original music
• Lifetime voting member, The GRAMMY® Awards
• 1st Place, National Association of Composers USA – Composer Competition
• Recipient, 2025 Aaron Copland Fund for Music Award for Performance Program
• Featured in national media, including All About Jazz (2025 Feature Author and Song of the Day) and Voyage Austin (2025 Artist Spotlight “Life, Values & Legacy”).
Research Interests
• Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies External Research Scholar: "NEA Jazz Master Dan Morgenstern historian"
• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): Project Specialist
• Soon to be Published Book: "Symmetry in Jazz"
• Thelonious Monk: "The Works for Piano"
• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): Project Specialist
• Soon to be Published Book: "Symmetry in Jazz"
• Thelonious Monk: "The Works for Piano"
Teaching Interests
• Contemporary Concepts of Jazz Theory & Composition
• Classical & Jazz - Advanced Piano Technique
• Music Technology for Musicians: websites, promotion, A/V production
• Spreading American Jazz to nations across the world, as an International Music Ambassador: sponsored by the U.S. State Department
"Music transcends borders, languages, politics and is a great universal common language for the people on earth"
• Classical & Jazz - Advanced Piano Technique
• Music Technology for Musicians: websites, promotion, A/V production
• Spreading American Jazz to nations across the world, as an International Music Ambassador: sponsored by the U.S. State Department
"Music transcends borders, languages, politics and is a great universal common language for the people on earth"