Damani Phillips
Dr. Damani Philips is a native of Pontiac, MI, where he began playing saxophone at the age of 10. He currently serves as Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Iowa - where he teaches applied jazz saxophone, directs large/small jazz ensembles and teaches courses in African American music, African American culture, jazz education and improvisation. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in classical saxophone from DePaul University and The University of Kentucky and a second Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from Wayne State University (Detroit). Phillips earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009, becoming the first African American in the country to do so. He was named a Yamaha performing artist in 2014.
An active performer, pedagogue and composer, Phillips has taught and performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. He previously served on the faculty of Grinnell College, as adjunct faculty at Oakland University (Rochester, MI) and Macomb Community College (Macomb, MI), and is actively sought as a guest artist, clinician, lecturer, panelist and adjudicator throughout the nation. As a lecturer, Phillips has presented on a variety of topics on jazz and Black music’s association with American culture at venues such as The African American Museum of Iowa, the Deutschebank Kunsthalle (Berlin), Yale-National University of Singapore and numerous colleges/universities/professional conferences around the globe. As a performer, Phillips has shared the stage with artists/groups such as Lewis Nash, Christian McBride, Wycliffe Gordon, Bobby McFerrin, Marcus Belgrave, Terrell Stafford, Maceo Parker, Pat Bianchi, Bobby Floyd, The Temptations, Red Holloway, Hank Jones and many others. As a recording artist, Phillips has released 6 albums as a leader: "Yaktown Nights" (2003), “The String Theory” (2010) and “The Reckoning” (featuring jazz luminaries Pat Bianchi, Greg Gisbert and Lewis Nash) in 2012, "Duality" (2015) and his first live recording “Live in Iowa” in 2018. Phillips’ most recent album “No More Apologies” featuring jazz quartet with string octet was released in November of 2021.
As a former member of Iowa’s African American Studies faculty, Phillips is also an active academic scholar - with scholarly presentations at colleges, universities, professional/civic conferences, and scholarly forums both domestically and abroad to his credit. His scholarly research focuses on addressing cultural concerns in the pedagogy of Black music within academia. He published his first book titled “What is This Thing Called Soul: Conversations on Jazz and Black Culture” in 2017, which delves into the difficult, yet timely, topic of the decline of Black cultural influence and representation in jazz as traditionally taught in academic spheres.
Recordings:
- Jazz studies
