SAN FRANCISCO, September 13, 2010 — Celebrated jazz artist Dianthe “Dee” Spencer was recently named director of the School of Music and Dance at San Francisco State University. She now leads one of the longest-standing and most diverse performing arts programs in Northern California.
Mainstay of Bay Area jazz scene has taught at SF State since 1990
“Dee Spencer is poised to lead our School of Music and Dance with gusto,” said Kurt Daw, dean of SF State’s College of Creative Arts. “We are excited that her faculty colleagues selected someone so well-respected in the jazz community for not only talent and hard work, but also fervent commitments to education, mentorship and social justice."
Spencer joined the SF State faculty in 1990 and founded the program in Jazz Studies. She co-directs the program with saxophonist Andrew Speight and has directed the vocal jazz ensemble and Gospel Choir. She has taught classes in jazz improvisation, piano, harmony, women and jazz, and vocal jazz. Spencer also mentors jazz piano students individually.
A fixture in jazz venues throughout the Bay Area, Spencer has regular piano engagements at Martuni’s and Catch in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle writes: “A fine pianist rooted in the blues-and-groove jazz tradition of Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons, she’s a busy performer and teacher who goes about her business with brio.”
Earlier this year, she performed and served as an adjudicator/clinician at Walt Disney World’s Jazz Celebration. The Wilmington, Del., native serves with the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Women’s Audio Mission and the Community Music Center. She is past director of the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship Award combo for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, Grammy All-Star National High School Jazz Combo and the SFJAZZ All-Star High School Ensemble, which competed at the Essentially Ellington Competition for Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002 and 2003.
Spencer was a featured performer at the Beijing, Cork, Tasmanian and Dresden international jazz festivals. In various settings, Spencer has performed with jazz greats Louis Bellson, Jimmy Scott, Clark Terry, Branford Marsalis, John Handy, Greg Osby, Jeff “Tain” Watts and Regina Carter and R&B sensation Ledisi. As a keyboardist, Spencer has recorded with former Tower of Power vocalist Lenny Williams and Aretha Franklin’s favorite drummer, Bernard “Pretty” Perdie. Spencer’s debut CD, “Vintage School,” was released in 2002.
Spencer earned her Doctorate of Education from the University of San Francisco, Master of Music from Washington University in St. Louis, and Bachelor of Science from Florida A&M University. Before joining SF State, she taught piano at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Spencer has also served on the governing boards of the International Association for Jazz Education and the San Francisco chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Contact: Matt Itelson, (415) 338-1442, matti@sfsu.edu, College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco, CA 94132