Front man for jazz studies
Playing jazz saxophone and flute has taken Baltimore native Gary Thomas around the world. As the Peabody Institute’s director of jazz studies and the Richard and Elizabeth Case Endowed Professor in Jazz, he shares the musical knowledge and experiences gained on those world travels with students and faculty.
Thomas founded the jazz studies degree program at Peabody in 2001 and is the first black person to become a degree program director at the conservatory.
JazzTimes magazine called Thomas one of “the more uncompromising and original saxophone voices” of his generation. He has performed and/or recorded with legendary musicians, including Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Cassandra Wilson, Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Kevin Eubanks, and Ravi Coltrane, and he has been a member of the Herbie Hancock Quartet and Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition Band. DownBeat magazine named two of his recordings among the best of the 1990s.
Thomas has said, “The students want the teacher to be able to do what he’s trying to teach them to do. I liked being a [band] leader at times. I’m sort of the same thing at Peabody.”