Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania, will present a paper on “Diversity Is, Diversity Ain’t: Multiculturalism and Teaching in a Post-Disciplinary Music Academy” at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, in Room 404 of the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music. The event, which is sponsored by the Eastman Departmental Diversity Initiative, is open to all members of the University of Rochester community.
Ramsey’s research focuses on African-American music, American music and jazz. He is the author of Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop, which was named outstanding book of the year by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. His current project, In Walked Bud: Earl “Bud” Powell and the Modern Jazz Challenge, is a study of jazz pianist Bud Powell and is forthcoming from the University of California Press. He has also begun a new book on singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield.
In 2001, Ramsey received the Irving Lowens Award for best article from the Society for American Music for his article in Musical Quarterly, “Who Hears Here? Black Music, Critical Bias, and the Musicological Skintrade.” He has also published in Black Music Research Journal, Journal of Popular Music Studies, The Black Scholar, Callaloo, American Music, American Quarterly, Journal of the American Musicological Society, The New York Times, and The Village Voice.
As a musician, Ramsey has performed with his band Dr. Guy’s MusiQologY in South America, New York, Australia, and Philadelphia. He composes and arranges all of MusiQologY’s music, which moves beyond the traditional jazz idiom, experimenting with R&&B, Latin, and Hip Hop fusions.
# # #