Bill Dobbins, professor of jazz studies at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, teaches jazz composition and arranging courses. He also directs the Eastman Jazz Ensemble, and Eastman Studio Orchestra, which are both award-winning. He has performed as a pianist with chamber and orchestra ensembles under the guidance of Pierre Boulez and Lukas Foss. In 1973, he joined Eastman’s faculty and helped to design the undergraduate and graduate curricula for Eastman’s Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media programs. His students were heard in the big bands of Count Basie and Woody Herman, Buddy Rich as well as Maynard Ferguson, Maynard Ferguson/Mel Lewis, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis. He was the principal director of WDR Big Band, Cologne, Germany from 1994 to 2002. From 1998 to 2002, he also headed the Jazz Studies department at Hochschule fur Musik, Cologne. His WDR Big Band led tours, radio, television, and concert projects that included the internationally acclaimed soloists Clark Terry and Dave Liebman, as well as Nicolas Simion, Art Farmer and Gary Mahogany. Advance Music, Mainz publishes Mr. Dobbins’ compositions and arrangements for solo piano, chamber music combinations, and big band. His volumes of transcriptions of jazz textbooks and classic jazz piano solos have been adopted by jazz education programs around the world. Chick Corea’s “Now He Sings”, and Herbie Hancock’s “Classic Jazz Compositions” and “Piano Solos” are some of the titles. Clare Fischer is Alone Together/Just Me. Jazz Arranging and Music Composing: A Linear Approach, A Creative Approach To Jazz Piano Harmony. There is also a DVD called The Evolution of Solo Jazz Piano. Cologne, featuring Peter Erskine (Fuzzy Music) and John Goldsby, (Bass Lion), J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio with the Kings Singers, the WDR Big Band and the WDR Big Band. Arrangements and conductors were Bill Dobbins of Signum Classics, and Balkan Jazz with Nicolas Simion (Big Band Records). from http://sonsofsound.com
