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Dan Gailey

Associate Professor and Director of Jazz Studies

Dan Gailey, saxophonist/composer/arranger, is the director of jazz studies and associate professor of music and dance at the University of Kansas, where he directs Jazz Ensemble I and Jazz Combo I; produces the annual KU Jazz Festival, now in its 27th year; and is the founder and producer of the annual KU Jazz Workshop, a week-long summer institute for high school students and teachers now in its 11th year. He is the recipient of the 1996 IAJE Gil Evans Fellowship Award, an annual award which identifies an emerging jazz composer from an international field of candidates. Under his direction, the KU jazz studies program has been the recipient of nine Down Beat Student Music Awards, including Jazz Ensemble I's award as Best College Big Band in the United States or Canada in 1997. Jazz Ensemble I has appeared under his direction at the 1998 IAJE Conference in New York City; 1996 IAJE Conference in Atlanta; 1994 IAJE Conference in Boston; 1994 KMEA Conference; 1992 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago; and served as featured guest college band at the 1991, 1993 and 1998 UNC/Greeley Jazz Festivals in Colorado. In May of 1995, Jazz Ensemble I released its second CD, Wyrgly, which received very favorable reviews.

Gailey holds a bachelor of music degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a master of music degree in theory/composition from the University of Northern Colorado. His compositions can be heard on numerous college and professional big band albums and are published exclusively through UNC Jazz Press. He has been active as a freelance saxophonist in Seattle, Denver, and Kansas City, and has appeared as a guest artist/clinician throughout the United States and Canada, and in Sweden. He is also on the faculty of the annual Britt Arts Faculty Jazz Workshop in Oregon, and has directed numerous festival honor groups, including the 1996 NBA National Honors Jazz Ensemble; 1996 Washington All-State Jazz Ensemble; 1995 Oklahoma OBA All-State Jazz Ensemble; 1993 Nebraska All-State Ensemble and 1991-92 Minnesota All-State Jazz Ensemble. Gailey produced the self-titled 1994 debut CD recording of the Kansas City Boulevard Big Band and the follow-up CD by the same group, "Stellar," released in February 1996. Both Sea Breeze recordings featured many of his compositions and arrangements, and both received very favorable reviews from publications such as "Jazziz," "Jazz Times," and "Jazz Journal."