Austin Cebulske

Lecturer, Saxophone, Jazz Big Band and Big Band II

Saxophonist Austin Cebulske is a musician, educator, researcher and composer hailing from the historically and culturally vibrant musical scene of St. Louis, Missouri. He has spent nearly two decades leading his own projects and performing within a variety of musical contexts throughout both the greater St. Louis and Denver areas. Throughout his career, Austin has performed with such luminaries as Montez Coleman, Sheila Jordan, Vincent Gardner, Donald Harrison, Carmen Bradford, Dick Oatts, Rodney Whitaker and Marquis Hill. His extensive performance history has led him throughout Europe and across much of the United States, including to such iconic venues as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz At the Bistro, Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center and Dazzle Denver.

As a studio musician Austin has recorded with a diverse array of ensembles, including classical chamber ensemble, jazz trio, and large jazz ensemble. His discography includes work with the Funky Butt Brass Band, Drew Zaremba Fellowship, UNC’s Spectrum Ensemble and Lab I, The Steve Davis Quartet, The Service, and the Zach Rich Sextet. Austin recently released two recording projects as a leader featuring original compositions and arrangements, his self-titled quartet debut in 2020 and a trio recording, Slophouse, in 2021.

Austin has served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at both Northern Illinois University, where he received an MM in Jazz Studies in 2015, and the University of Northern Colorado, where he is currently finishing his dissertation in pursuit of a DA in Jazz Studies with a secondary emphasis in Jazz History. Throughout his studies Austin has had the privilege to work with renowned pedagogues like Camille Thurman, Reggie Thomas, and Geof Bradfield. As an educator at both NIU and UNCO, he has gained a wealth of invaluable teaching experience within a variety of pedagogical settings, including as Big Band Director, Jazz Combo Instructor, Music Appreciation Instructor, and Applied Lesson Instructor. In addition to cultivating his own private saxophone and clarinet lesson studio since 2009, Austin has conducted clinics and masterclasses on an array of subjects, including communication through shared jazz rhythmic vernacular, the idiomatic rhythmic vocabulary of Joe Henderson, motivic development within a jazz solo, and the musical aesthetics of Thelonious Monk. He was recently invited to present research regarding his dissertation entitled ‘The Sophisticated Harmonic Vocabulary of George Coleman’ at the 2022 annual Jazz Education Network Conference in Dallas, TX.