About the Author

John S. Davis is associate dean and director of jazz studies in the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds a bachelor of arts from Metropolitan State College, a masters of arts from the University of Denver, and a doctorate of arts from the University of Northern Colorado. He joined the University of Colorado faculty in 1999, having previously served as assistant director of jazz studies at the University of Northern Colorado from 1994 to 1999 and festival coordinator for the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival. He has appeared as guest conductor for honor and all-state jazz bands in the United States and Canada and is active internationally as a clinician and performer. From 2008 to 2010, he served as artistic director for the Jazz en Vercors festival held each summer in the Vercors Region of France, and he has performed as a trumpet player in Thailand, Canada, France, and the Philippines, in addition to most of the 48 contiguous United States. Groups under his direction have been recognized numerous times for excellence in DownBeat magazine’s Annual Student Music Awards.