ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

Jazz Studies

Bachelor of Music, Jazz Studies
Master of Music, Jazz Studies

San Diego State University has long had one of the premier instrumental jazz studies programs in the United States and regularly attracts the finest talent from the U.S. and abroad. The program offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in jazz studies and its accomplished full-time jazz professors, Bill Yeager, Rick Helzer, and Richard Thompson, are complemented by the finest studio artist faculty available in the region.  An audition is required for admission to the program.

With a mission of providing the highest quality musical education and to making a substantial contribution to the cultural life of its region and the world, the program strives to reinforce the integral value of music in society. The jazz studies program is committed to turning out students who are competent, passionate, highly motivated and willing to take risks. From education to research, from performance to composition, students can create strong individual profiles to enhance their musical development. Through immersion in an environment of rigorous teaching, open inquiry, and deep exploration, students are encouraged to create works, performances, and ideas that have yet to be imagined.

The SDSU jazz studies program has released a number of commercial CD recordings that have garnered widespread praise. SDSU jazz ensembles have performed at a wide variety of jazz festivals including Montreaux, Hawaii International, IAJE, California Institute for the Preservation of Jazz, Coronado Jazz Festival, and the Ensenada Jazz Festival.  As winners of the National Collegiate Jazz Competition, the Jazz Ensemble #1 performed at the Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida with Wynton Marsalis, Pete Fountain and Louie Bellson. Student jazz groups have toured throughout Europe, Taiwan, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

Guest artists with whom SDSU students have performed include James Moody, George Shearing, Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Schuur, Rob McConnell, Charles McPherson, Conte Candoli, Pete Christlieb, Bobby Shew, Lanny Morgan, Mundell Lowe, Don Menza, Marv Stamm, Bud Shank, Gabe Baltizar, Tiger Okoshi, Gary Foster, Kim Richmond, George Roberts, Holly Hofmann, Ernie Watts, Dave Friesen, Ed Shaughnessey, and Barney Kessel among others. 

The program of study includes performance opportunities in big bands, and small combos, as well as comprehensive coursework in jazz theory, jazz arranging, improvisation, and jazz composition.

Famed jazz critic Leonard Feather described a San Diego State University Jazz Ensemble #1 performance (at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference) as “...bristling set as a yardstick to measure college jazz bands.”

Larry Himmel, San Diego television personality and jazz aficionado wrote, “Jazz is alive and well on campus!  Not that yupped-out jazak, jacuzzi jazz, this is the genuine article.  Listen to the SDSU Jazz Ensemble on stage and ‘in the tradition’, they are a joy to be heard.”

For additional information regarding the jazz studies degree programs at San Diego State University, please contact Professor Bill Yeager or visit the jazz studies website.