Biographical Information

David N. Baker, Jr. is one of the country's leading symphonic jazz composers and educators. His compositions, numbering more than 2000, range from jazz concertos and classical sonatas to film scores. Baker has been commissioned by more than 500 individuals and ensembles including Joseph Gingold, Ruggerio Ricci, Janos Starker, Harvey Phillips, the New York Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Beaux Arts Trio, Fisk Jubilee Singers, and the International Horn Society. Currently, Baker is working on an interactive work for children's concerts, in which the audience members participate by clapping, whistling, and singing.

A virtuosic performer on multiple instruments, Baker has taught and performed throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Japan. In addition to leading his own groups, he has performed and recorded with numerous jazz artists and has played with the bands of Stan Kenton, Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, Quincy Jones, and George Russell.

A native of Indianapolis, Baker received both bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Indiana University and has studied with a wide range of teachers, performers, and composers including J.J. Johnson, Bobby Brookmeyer, Janos Starker, George Russell, William Russo, and Gunther Schuller, among others. Baker has been nominated for a Grammy Award, honored three times by Down Beat Magazine (as a trombonist, for lifetime achievement, and as the third inductee to their 1994 Jazz Education Hall of Fame), and has received the Arts Midwest Jazz Masters Award (1990) and the Governor's Arts Award of the State of Indiana (1991).

A dedicated music educator, Baker's involvement in music organizations has encompassed membership on the National Council on the Arts; board positions for the American Symphony Orchestra League, Arts Midwest, and the Afro-American Bicentennial Hall of Fame/Museum; and past chairs of the Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center and the Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Panel of the NEA. Baker is also Co-Conductor and Co-Musical Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, President of the National Jazz Service Organization, Vice President of the International Association of Jazz Educators, and senior consultant for music programs for the Smithsonian Institution. Currently, Baker holds the the position of Distinguished Professor of Music and Chairman of the Jazz Department at Indiana University's School of Music.

A prolific writer as well as composer, Baker's output includes more than 50 recordings, 60 books, and 150 articles.

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List of Works

Chamber Ensemble

Choral Music

Concertos

Instrumental Music

Orchestral Music