OMEA 2002 Conference:

Willie L. Hill
All-State Jazz Band Conductor

Dr. Willie Hill is Director of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and a Professor of Music Education. He received his BS degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Dr Hill was 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 Thelonius Monk Institute. Prior to his tenure at the University of Colorado, Hill taught instrumental music and served as instrumental music supervisor for 20 years in the Denver Public School.

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 Minneli, Lena Horn, Lou Rawls, Ben Vereen, Lola Falana, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis Jr., Dizzy Gillespie, James Mody, 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 the Mile High Jazz Camp in Boulder. The Colorado Clarinet Choir was chosen to represent the United Stated in London and Dr Hill was a member of that touring organization. His conducting experiences include numerous Denver Public School Citywide Honor performances, All-State Jazz Ensembles, All-County Bands, Musical Director at the Schwayder and Bonfils Theaters.

He is currently MENC: National Association for Music Education President-Elect, Past-President of the International Association of Jazz Educators (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. In January, 2001, Dr Hill was the recipient of the prestigious Lawrence Berk Leadership Award presented by the International Association of Jazz Educators. In 1998, he was inducted into the Colorado Music Educators Hall of Fame. A national artist/clinician for Yamaha Musical Instrument School, 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.), and Approaching the Standards (Warner Brothers Publication, 1999). Hill is listed in the first edition of Who's Who Among Black Americans and Who's Who Among International Musicians.

Dr. Willie Hill is a YAMAHA performing artist and his appearance is sponsored in part by the YAMAHA corporation of America - Band & Orchestra Division.