Dr. JB Dyas has been a leader in jazz education for the past two decades. Formerly the executive director of the Brubeck Institute, Dyas currently serves as vice president for education and curriculum development for the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz at UCLA. He oversees the Institute’s education and outreach programs including Jazz In America: The National Jazz Curriculum, one of the most significant and wide-reaching jazz education programs in the world.

Throughout his career, he has performed across the country, taught students at every level, directed large and small ensembles, and developed and implemented new jazz curricula. He has presented numerous jazz workshops, teacher-training seminars, and jazz “informances” around the globe with such renowned artists as Dave Brubeck and Herbie Hancock. In addition, Dyas has written for DownBeat magazine and other national music publications, contributed the chapter on jazz pedagogy to the biography, David Baker – A Legacy in Music, and co-founded the Sisters in Jazz International Collegiate Competition. He also teaches jazz pedagogy at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and serves as an adjudicator for the annual Grammy Music Educator Award.

Dyas recently introduced his “What is Jazz and Why It’s Important to the World” lecture for International Jazz Day, for which he annually presents education events in conjunction with the Hancock Institute and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He also has made a series of teacher-training jazz education videos, including a national webinar with jazz great Herbie Hancock and US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, available at www.jbdyas.com.

He received his master’s in jazz pedagogy from the University of Miami and doctorate in music education from Indiana University.