Jazzin' It

Issue Date: 
July 12, 2010
 Three Pitt jazz students—the first to be seeking degrees in Pitt’s new PhD curriculum in jazz studies—made presentations April 26 in their Advanced Jazz Composition course in Pitt’s William R. Robinson Recording Studio in Bellefield Hall. Seated is Nathan Davis, Pitt’s director of Jazz Studies, and students (from left) James Moore, Alton Merrell, and Nathan Frink. Each student presented a fully completed score of an extended concert jazz work, a jazz ballet, a jazz musical theater piece or a mini opera, and a score for a film chosen by the composer. Davis developed the new jazz PhD program, which combines musicology, ethnomusicology, composition, and performance.   Three Pitt jazz students—the first to be seeking degrees in Pitt’s new PhD curriculum in jazz studies—made presentations April 26 in their Advanced Jazz Composition course in Pitt’s William R. Robinson Recording Studio in Bellefield Hall. Seated is Nathan Davis, Pitt’s director of Jazz Studies, and students (from left) James Moore, Alton Merrell, and Nathan Frink. Each student presented a fully completed score of an extended concert jazz work, a jazz ballet, a jazz musical theater piece or a mini opera, and a score for a film chosen by the composer. Davis developed the new jazz PhD program, which combines musicology, ethnomusicology, composition, and performance.