Chris Washburne

Alumni
Faculty
Jazz
MPP

Professor of Music, Ethnomusicology

Full-Time Faculty



Department Chair (2021–23)

Office Address:
619A Dodge Hall

cjw5@columbia.edu





Chris Washburne's Website
Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program
Washburne's book Sounding Salsa

Chris Washburne is Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Columbia University and the Founder of Columbia’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program. Chris Washburne has published numerous articles on jazz, Latin jazz, and salsa. His books include?Bad Music: the Music We Love to Hate?(Routledge, 2004),?Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York?(Temple University Press, 2008), and?Latin Jazz: the Other Jazz?(Oxford University Press, 2020).
As a trombonist, he has performed on over 150 recordings, with two of them Grammy winners and seven Grammy nominated. He has been hailed as "One of the best trombonists in New York..." by Peter Watrous of?The New York Times?and “one of the most important trombonists performing today” by Brad Walseth of?www.jazzchicago.net. He was voted as “Rising Star of the Trombone” numerous times in the annual Downbeat Critics Poll. He has performed with Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ruben Blades, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Justin Timberlake, Marc Anthony, Bj?rk, They Might Be Giants, Roscoe Mitchell, Grady Tate, Jaki Byard, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Danilo Caymmi, Ran Blake, the Smithereens, Don Richols, Arturo Sandoval, Hilton Ruíz, Lawrence “Butch” Morris, Roswell Rudd, Walter Thompson, RMM Allstar Salsa Band, Eddie Henderson, Anthony Braxton, Ray Barretto, John Cale, Baba Olatunje, Candido, Freddie Cole, Maria Schneider Big Band, Chico O’Farrill, Leslie Uggams, Dicapo Opera Company, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-stars, SEM Ensemble, American Microtonal Festival Chamber Orchestra, and the Dinosaur Annex under the direction of Gunther Schuller, among many others. He is the leader of the highly acclaimed SYOTOS Latin jazz band, FFEAR, and the Rags and Roots jazz band.? ??


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Fields of Moons (from Fields of Moons)
Seas of Slumber (from Fields of Moons)

FFEAR LIVE AT MILLER THEATER NYC 2010 MIRAGE: SCENES.mov

Video of FFEAR LIVE AT MILLER THEATER NYC 2010 MIRAGE: SCENES.mov

Chris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band1.mov

Video of Chris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band1.mov

Recent Publications

Latin Jazz: the Other Jazz
May, 2020




Low Ridin'
April, 2015




Land of Nod
January, 2013




"Latin Jazz, Afro-Latin Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Cubop, Caribbean Jazz, Jazz Latin, or just… Jazz: The Politics of Locating an Intercultural Music"
June, 2012




Mirage
June, 2012




"Jazz Re/Bordered: Cultural Policy in Danish Jazz"
September, 2010





Columbia Degrees:
PhD, Ethnomusicology

1999




Degrees from Other Institutions:
BM

Wisconsin



MM

New England Conservatory

1988