Paul Austerlitz, creative music recital

Reed player, composer and ethnomusicologist Paul Austerlitz combines his background as an ethnomusicologist specializing in Afro-Caribbean music with his creative work as a jazz musician. Free.

Paul Austerlitz

As an instrumentalist, Austerlitz has dedicated himself to mastering the bass and contrabass clarinets. He also plays Bb (soprano) clarinet and tenor saxophone. As a composer, Austerlitz weds his backgrounds in jazz and ethnomusicology, producing works that incorporate the musics that he researches. He has been especially active in blending Latin and Caribbean music from the Dominican Republic and elsewhere with free forms of jazz.

Austerlitz received the Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, where he studied under Bill Dixon, Milford Graves, Dave Liebman and Frank Wess. His books include “Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race and Humanity” (2005, Wesleyan University Press) and “Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity” (1997, Temple University Press).