azz Festival Gala Concert.
School of MusicJazz Studies

Jazz at WSU

We LOVE jazz at WSU! But it doesn’t stop there. In addition to “traditional” jazz styles like bop and swing, our ensembles practice and perform blues, R&B, neo soul, singer-songwriter, and more!

Among the Best

The Washington State University Jazz Studies Program has earned a national reputation. Ensembles and individuals have received awards from DownBeat magazine and earned top honors at major festivals. University groups regularly present invited performances at prestigious conferences. Additionally they tour, record, and perform with distinguished guest artists.

Students in the Jazz Studies Program work with an internationally recognized faculty and have the opportunity to perform in a variety of award-winning ensembles including jazz big bands and combos. Additionally, classes are offered in improvisation, jazz theory, jazz composition and arranging, and jazz history. Degrees offered include a Master of Arts with a Jazz Option, a Bachelor of Music in Performance with an Emphasis in Jazz, and a Jazz Minor.

Washington State University graduates are performing, recording, and touring world-wide with some of the biggest names in jazz. Many WSU graduates have accepted prestigious positions at universities, colleges, and leading public school programs.

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Jazz Faculty

Jazz Faculty members have performed with iconic groups and artists like The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Glenn Miller Band, Joe LaBarbera, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, and Gladys Knight. They hold degrees from some of the nation’s most prestigious schools like the Eastman School of Music, University of Southern California, and Boston University. They have workshopped and adjudicated jazz bands in regional, national, and international settings. Their ongoing professional endeavors include recording as leaders and supporting musicians, national tours, and presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. Jazz faculty members also regularly perform with bands in various idioms including traditional and modern jazz combos, Latin, R&B, neo soul, rock, and jazz big band.

Jazz Faculty

2024 Jazz Festival

The 2024 WSU Jazz Festival is on Wednesday, November 6th. We will have a full schedule of school band performances open to the public. Attending students will have the opportunity to attend clinics and workshops. As usual, the midday gala concert will feature great performances by Jazz Northwest and the WSU Jazz Big Band.

Jazz Week

April is National Jazz Appreciation Month. In celebration of this uniquely American form, in 2023, the WSU School of Music began celebrating “WSU Spring Jazz Week” during the second week of April. Scotty Barnhart, the director of the legendary and GRAMMY-winning Count Basie Orchestra was the inaugural guest artist.

In 2025, we will welcome Brazilian artist Jovino Santos Neto for the 2nd annual event. The Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist will perform with Jazz Northwest, WSU’s faculty jazz ensemble on April 8th and with the WSU Jazz Big Band on April 10th. Additionally, he will interact with WSU students in masterclasses and a public Q&A.

DownBeat Award Winners!!!

In 2022, The Washington State University Jazz Big Band was selected the Graduate College Winner in the Asynchronous Large Jazz Ensemble category. The band received this tremendous honor based on virtual performances recorded and submitted in the 1920-21 school year. DownBeat is the most important journal in jazz, often called the “Jazz Bible.” DownBeat Student Music Awards are national in scope, awarded to top jazz programs from around the country. The WSU recordings submitted to DownBeat are included on the CD, “Jazz During Lockdown,” which is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, wsurecordings.com and other online sites.

Award-Winning Virtual Performance by the WSU Jazz Big Band