Dr. JB Dyas has been a leader in jazz education for the past two decades. Currently Vice President for Education and Curriculum Development at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, Dyas oversees the Institute's education and outreach programs including Jazz in America (www.jazzinamerica.org), one of the most significant and wide-reaching jazz education programs in the world. He has presented jazz workshops, teacher-training seminars, and jazz "informances" worldwide with such renowned artists as Ambrose Akinmusire, Don Braden, Bobby Broom, Dave Brubeck, Gerald Clayton, Robin Eubanks, Herbie Hancock, Antonio Hart, Ingrid Jensen, Sean Jones, Delfeayo Marsalis, Christian McBride, Bobby Watson, and Steve Wilson.
Prior to his current position at the Hancock Institute, Dyas served as Executive Director of the Brubeck Institute where he implemented its College Fellowship Program, Brubeck Festival, Summer Jazz Colony, and Jazz Outreach Initiative. Before that he served as Director of Jazz Studies at Miami-Dade College – one of the largest and most multi-cultural colleges in the nation, and New World School of the Arts – Miami’s award-winning performing arts high school.
Throughout his career, Dyas has performed across the country, designed and implemented new jazz curricula, directed large and small ensembles, and taught a wide variety of jazz courses to students at virtually every level of musical development – age seven to seventy, beginner to professional, learning-challenged to prodigy. He has conducted jazz and tune-learning clinics, adjudicated high school and collegiate jazz festivals, and presented numerous jazz seminars throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. 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.
Additionally, Dyas has written for DownBeat magazine and other national music publications, presented clinics and performed at a number of International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) and Jazz Education Network (JEN) Annual Conferences, co-founded the International Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Competition, served on the Smithsonian Institution's Task Force for Jazz Education in America, and contributed the chapter “Defining Jazz Education” to the biography, "David Baker - A Legacy in Music." 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 created a series of teacher-training jazz education videos (all available at
jbdyas.com), including a national webinar along with Herbie Hancock and US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on the importance of jazz education in our public schools.
Dr. Dyas received his Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy from the University of Miami and PhD in Music Education from Indiana University, and is a recipient of the DownBeat Achievement Award for Jazz Education. A professional bassist, Dyas has performed well over a thousand jazz and commercial dates throughout his career and continues to perform in a wide variety of jazz and commercial music settings.
