Faculty

Jazz studies faculty members have performed nationally and internationally with many of the who’s who of jazz, including Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Harry Connick, Jr., Wes Montgomery, Brandford Marsalis, the Count Basie Orchestra, Tony Bennett, and the late John Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Dinah Washington. In addition, faculty members perform professionally—at both local and national venues—and tour together as The MSU Professors of Jazz, one of the most innovative jazz ensembles in the United States today. 

Faculty Members

• Rodney Whitaker, professor of double bass; director of jazz studies
• Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson, associate professor of jazz studies
• Etienne Charles, assistant professor of jazz trumpet
• Randy Gelispie, instructor of jazz drums
• Ken Prouty, assistant professor of jazz studies and musicology
• Diego Rivera, instructor of jazz studies, saxophone, and improvisation
• Rick Roe, assistant professor of jazz piano
• Sunny Wilkinson, assistant professor of vocal jazz

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