Jazz History Overview

Dr. Gordon Vernick is an Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of
Jazz Studies at Georgia State University. He holds a Bachelor of Music from
Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY; a Master of Music in Education from the Univer
sity of Miami, and a Doctor of Arts in Trumpet Performance and Jazz Peda
gogy from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.
As a professional trumpet player, he has performed in all musical medi
ums from symphony orchestra to jazz quartet and has freelanced in Miami,
New York, Denver, Kansas City, and the Caribbean Islands. He is currently ac
tive in the Southeast United States as a clinician, an adjudicator, and as a free
lance trumpet player.
As a jazz educator he is the past president of the Georgia Association of
Jazz Educators, past chair of the International Association of Jazz Educators
Curriculum Committee and was recently appointed as the Southeast Coor
dinator of that organization. He was the Director of the NARAS Georgia
Grammy High School Jazz Band from 1994 to 1999. He is the co-editor of the
book Teaching Jazz: A Course Of Study, published by MENC. He recently co
wrote the college textbook, Jazz History Overview, published by Kendall
Hunt which has been adopted by numerous universities around the country.
He is director of the GSU Faculty Jazztet which performs regularly in Atlanta
area schools and has appeared at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Brasstown Mu
sic Festival, Oxford University Music Series and many other venues in the
southeast. He has performed with such world-renown jazz artists as Kenny
Werner, Clare Fischer, John Hart, Kevin Hays, Conrad Herwig, Marc Copland,
Randy Brecker, Paul McCandless, and many others. The Jazztet was twice in
vited to perform in San Jose, Costa Rica by the Centro Cultural Costarricense
Norteamericano. During the summer of 2001 the Jazztet performed in
Moscow, Russia at the Tribute to Willis Conover Jazz Festival and in March
2003 performed at Capitol University in Beijing, China. The group was invited
to perform in November 2004 at the Curso e Colegio Bardal in Florianopolis,
Brazil. As a jazz clinician he served a residency at the Conservatory of San
Juan, P.R. and the Taipei American School in Taiwan, and the Singapore
American School this past March.

Dr. Geoffrey Haydon has successfully bridged both classical and jazz styles of performance. He
has developed an impressive reputation as someone with a high level of expertise using technol
ogy in the areas of performance, composition, arranging, and pedagogy. Currently Dr. Haydon
coordinates the piano faculty at Georgia State University where he teaches piano, piano literature,
jazz history, and jazz theory. Known as a classical and jazz soloist, he is also a member of the
Haydon/Parker Duo, and the Georgia State University Faculty Jazztet. He has given performances
throughout the USA, in Europe, Russia, China, Japan, South America, and Central America with
well-known jazz artists such as Eddie Daniels, Joe Henderson, Bill Watrous, Marvin Stamm, Nick
Brignola, Randy Brecker, Indugu Chancler, Conrad Herwig, and Hal Crook. Dr. Haydon regularly
performs with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and has performed with touring shows including The
Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, The Producers, Hairspray, Sister Act, and Grease. In addi
tion, Dr. Haydon is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator. He has numerous publications with
Alfred Publishing, Warner Bros., Stipes Publishing and is co-author of Jazz History Overview,
a textbook by Kendall Hunt Publishing. Dr. Haydon can be heard on Cabin Fever, a jazz CD by
the McLean-Haydon Jazz Quartet, and My Foolish Heart, a jazz piano/vibraphone CD by the 
Haydon/Parker Duo. Both CD’s are available on the ACA Digital label. Dr. Haydon received his
Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Richmond and studied three summers at the
Aspen Music Festival. He received his Master and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from the
University of Texas at Austin.