Biography
Brian Harker teaches music history and theory. His research interests include topics in jazz, blues, gospel, and other African-American musical genres. He twice received the Irving Lowens Award for his articles, “‘Telling a Story’: Louis Armstrong and Coherence in Early Jazz” (1999), and “Louis Armstrong, Eccentric Dance, and the Evolution of Jazz on the Eve of Swing” (2008). He has published a textbook, Jazz: An American Journey (Prentice-Hall, 2005), and two monographs with Oxford University Press: Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (2011) and Sportin’ Life: John W. Bubbles, An American Classic (2022).
Education:
- PhD, Historical Musicology, Columbia University, 1997
- MPhil, Historical Musicology, Columbia University, 1995
- MA, Musicology, Brigham Young University, 1994
- BA, Music, Brigham Young University, 1990
Honors and Awards
- Irving Lowens Award, Society for American Music (2008 - 2008)
- $1,000 donation for Louis Armstrong research, Jean-Claude Baker Foundation (2006 - 2006)
- NEH Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities (2005 - 2006)
- We The People Project, National Endowment for the Humanities (2005 - 2006)
- Irving Lowens Award, Society for American Music (1999 - 1999)
Professional Citizenship
- Other, University Press of Kentucky (2022 - 2022)
- Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Intégral [Music Theory Journal] (2022 - 2022)
- Editor, Associate Editor, Oxford University Press (2010 - 2010)
- Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, United States Academic Decathlon (2009 - 2009)