David N. Baker Jazz Scholarship
Receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from IU, David N. Baker accepted a position from Dean Wilfred Bain to start a degree-granting program in jazz. He is a highly recognized composer, having received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his composition "Levels," a concerto for bass, jazz band, woodwinds, and strings. Since its formation in 1991, he has been the artistic and musical director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He has also served on numerous music organizations, including the National Council on the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League Board of Directors, the Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center, and the Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2000, Professor Baker was elected by the National Endowment for the Arts to its Jazz Masters list.
The donors of the scholarship wish to further the mission of the Jacobs School of Music and Indiana University, believing in the importance of Jazz Education at the Jacobs School. By supporting the studies of undergraduate and graduate jazz students, the donors wish to honor the master teacher and musician, Professor David N. Baker.