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Jeffrey Kunkel
Associate Professor
Music Education
(Undergraduate Coordinator)
MSU Jazz Ensembles/Jazz Piano
973-655-7215
kunkelj@mail.montclair.edu

Jeffrey Kunkel (D.Ed., Music Education, Penn State University; M.M., Jazz Studies, New England Conservatory; B.S., Music Education, Penn State University) serves as Coordinator of Music Education and as director of the MSU Jazz Band, which performs at festivals throughout the area, including the Villanova Jazz Festival, University of the Arts Jazz Festival, and New York Vocal Jazz Festival. Prof. Kunkel is serving his third term as president of the New Jersey chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education, and is Jazz Procedures Chair for the New Jersey Music Educators Association. He is active as a jazz pianist, composer, adjudicator, and clinician, and was selected to direct the Pennsylvania District IV Jazz Band early in 2007. He also had the honor of conducting the 2006 and 2002 New Jersey Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble, the 2003 New Jersey Region II Jazz Ensemble, and the 2000 New Jersey Region I Jazz Ensemble. He can be heard on a CD release by jazz trumpeter and composer Peter Sciaino. He was also featured prominently on piano, keyboards, and trumpet on a 2001 CD release by singer/songwriter Julie Aaron entitled Borrowed Time.

Stephen Benson
Visiting Specialist
Guitar
Jazz
973-655-7212
stephenbenson@earthlink.net

Guitarist Stephen Benson is a freelance performer who has remained active on the studio, jazz and broadway scene for twenty years. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT, and a Masters from Manhattan School of Music. He has taught at Hartt School of Music and the Turtle Bay Music School in New York. Benson toured Europe as a member of the Giora Feidman Trio, performed at the Carnevale in Venice, Italy, for two years and at the Grand Canyon Music Festival in Arizona. He has worked extensively on Broadway in such shows as The Lion King, 42nd Street, and Wicked. He performs many styles of jazz from bebop to fusion to blues and R & B and has worked with artists including Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian and Evelyn Blakey.

David Bixler
Visiting Specialist
Saxophone
973-655-7212
David Bixler - Website
dbixler1@nyc.rr.com

Alto saxophonist David Bixler is known on the New York jazz scene as an accomplished sideman, bandleader and composer. He has performed and toured with the orchestras of  Lionel Hampton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Duke Ellington, and Bobby Sanabria at prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Symphony Center in Chicago, the Snow Mass Jazz Festival in Aspen, CO, and New York's JVC Jazz Festival. Since 2000 David has been a member of the Grammy-nominated Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, two years ago taking over the lead-alto chair. The band has toured throughout Europe, North America and Central America in addition to performing at Birdland in New York City each Sunday. David has collaborated with trumpeter Scott Wendholt, guitarist John Hart, Ugonna Okegwo on bass, and Andy Watson on drums. His debut Jazz Quintet CD entitled Lost In Queens was released in May of 2000. In the fall of 2003, David's second CD, Show Me The Justice, received national airplay and critical praise for his compositions and improvisations. His 2006 CD, Call It A Good Deal, featuring all original compositions by David Bixler, is garnering critical acclaim. A new composition for alto saxophone and string quartet was debuted January 2007 with the South Dakota Symphony string quartet. David holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University and a Masters in Composition from Montclair State University. 

T.K. Blue
Adjunct Professor
Introduction to Jazz
973-655-7212

T.K. Blue, also known as Talib Kibwe, studied with Billy Mitchell, Jimmy Heath, Chris Woods, Ernie Wilkins, Frank Foster, Sonny Red and Jimmy Owens, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef, Joe Newman, Paul West, and Reggie Workman. He attended New York University, where he earned bachelor's degrees in both music and psychology, and earned a master's degree in music education from Teacher's College at Columbia University. He lived in Paris for many years and has performed numerous times in Africa. He has toured and recorded with Winds of Manhattan, many African musicians including the notable Manu Dibango and the Senegalese group Xalam. His recordings include Egyptian Oasis (which led to a number of State Department tours), Introducing Talib Kibwe (Evidence) and several CDs on the Arkadia Jazz label and Rhythm in Blue on his label JAJA Records. He has also worked extensively with Randy Weston, Chico Hamilton, Archie Shepp, Bobby McFerrin, James Weidman and Chris McGregor. He has performed on the BET Jazz channel, at Alice Tully Hall for the Jazz at Lincoln Center series and at the North Sea Jazz Festival held in Den Haag, Holland.

Steve Johns
Visiting Specialist
Percussion
Jazz Drum Set
973-655-7212
sjohns2001@aol.com
Steve Johns - Website

Visiting percussion specialist Steve Johns studied with master drummers Alan Dawson and Bob Gullotti and attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied classical percussion with Fred Buda and Vic Firth. He moved to New York in 1982. He has worked, recorded and collaborated with Donald Byrd, Nat Adderley, Eddie Henderson, the Count Basie Orchestra under Frank Foster, the Vanguard Orchestra, Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin Big Band, Benny Carter, Phil Woods, Illinois Jacquet, Michael Brecker, Stanley Turentine, Slide Hampton, Kenny Burrell, and many others. Steve was the drummer for NPR's Billy Taylor's Jazz at The Kennedy Center in which he recorded 75 shows with guest including Wynton Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, Joe Lavano, Arturo Sandoval, Ray Barreto, Milt Jackson, Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker, Grover Washngon, Gary Burton, and Harry Sweet Edison. Mr. Johns's recordings include Ceremony on Malaco with saxophonist Peter Brainin (Cats Paw Records) and No Saints/No Sinners (Playscape Records). As well as having a busy performance schedule, Mr. Johns has taught at the Vermont Jazz Center, the Jazz In July Program at the University of Massachusetts, the Thelonius Monk Institute in Aspen Colorado and Williams College in Massachusetts.

Holli Ross
Visiting Specialist
Director, Vocal Jazz Ensemble
973-655-7212