Dr. Willie Hill is Director of the
Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and a Professor in
Music Education. He received his BS degree from Grambling State University and
earned MM and Ph.D degrees from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Dr. Hill was
a Professor in Music Education and the Assistant Dean at the College of Music
at the University of Colorado-Boulder for eleven years; and Director of Education
for the Thelonious Monk Institute in Los Angeles, California. Prior to his tenure
at the University of Colorado, he taught instrumental music for 16 years and served
as instrumental music supervisor for four years in the Denver Public Schools (DPS).
His
professional activities in the Denver/Metro area included the following: a former
member of the Denver Broncos Jazz Ensemble, a regular performer at the Denver
Auditorium Theater, Paramount Theater, Boettcher Concert Hall and a variety of
nightclubs; guest soloist with the Garden City Community College, Hastings College,
the University of Colorado, and the University of Denver Jazz Ensembles; a freelance
performer with George Burns, Liza Minnelli, Lena Horn, Lou Rawls, Ben Vareen,
Lola Falana, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis Jr., Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, Jon
Faddis, and many others. As a woodwind specialist, he has been a faculty member
of the Clark Terry Great Plains Jazz Camp; Founder and Co-Director of the Rich
Matteson-Telluride Jazz Academy, and Founder of the Mile High Jazz Camp in Boulder,
CO. He was a member of the Colorado Clarinet Choir, a touring organization that
was chosen in 1984 to represent the United States in London, England at the International
Clarinet Symposium. His conducting experiences include numerous Citywide Honor
performances, All-State Jazz Ensembles, All-County Bands, and Musical Director
at The Schwayder and Bonfils Theaters.
He is the Immediate Past-President
of MENC, the national association for music education, Past-President of the International
Association for Jazz Education (IAJE); a member of the writing team for MENC's
Vision 2020; a member of the national board of directors for Young Audiences,
Inc.; and is Past-President of the Colorado Music Educators Association, and Pi
Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. In January 2001, Dr. Hill was the recipient
of the prestigious Lawrence Berk Leadership Award presented by the International
Association for Jazz Education. In 1998, he was inducted into the Colorado Music
Educators Hall of Fame. A national artist/clinician for Yamaha Musical Instrument
Company, he is co-author of Learning to Sight-Read Jazz, Rock, Latin, and Classical
Styles (Ardsley House Publication), the author of The Instrumental History
of Jazz (N2K, Inc.), Approaching the Standards (Alfred Publishing,
1999); and Jazz Pedagogy: The Jazz Educator's Handbook and Resource Guide
(Alfred Publishing, 2002). Dr. Hill is listed in the first edition of Who's Who
among Black Americans and Who's Who among International Musicians.