Jason Squinobal PhD
Bio
Jason Squinobal is a saxophonist, composer, creative ethnomusicologist, and professor of music at Virginia Wesleyan University. His music features elements of jazz, electronica, and music from traditional cultures from around the world.
Education
Jason Squinobal has had the opportunity to attend some of the world’s finest performing arts schools including the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Berklee College of Music. While attending Berklee, Squinobal studied jazz performance with Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Ed Tomasi, Dave Santoro, and Billy Pierce. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BM in Music Education.
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Squinobal earned his PhD in Ethnomusicology in April 2009 from the University of Pittsburgh. His dissertation entitled, “West African Music in the Music of Art Blakey, Yusef Lateef, and Randy Weston” explores the social and cultural influences that encouraged those three musicians to incorporate elements of West African music into their compositions and jazz performance. Squinobal has presented his research internationally at the Guelph Jazz festival and Symposium at Guelph University, Guelph Canada; the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut; the New Jazz Histories Symposium, at the University of Salford, Manchester, England; the Leeds International Jazz Education Conference in Leeds, England; and at the Jazz Educational National Conference in San Diego, CA.
Employment
From 2012 to 2015, Jason Squinobal was the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota Morris. While at UMM, Squinobal’s jazz ensemble performed at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference in Minot, ND and at the Minnesota Music Educators annual conference in Minneapolis, MN. The ensemble also toured England where the band performed in Manchester, Bristol, and London. Squinobal also planned and produced the annual UMM Jazz Fest every year; in which he directed ensembles and performed with notable jazz artists including, Bill Pierce, Steve Davis, Darren Barrett, Kevin Harris, Chris Bates, Phil Hay, and Scott Hesse.
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In the fall of 2015, Squinobal became the Director Instrumental Music at Virginia Wesleyan University and accepted the challenge of building the University’s new Instrumental Music Program. VWU now has a variety of new instrumental music ensembles including a jazz ensemble, orchestra, pep band, percussion ensemble and guitar ensemble. He has also designed and established a music major track in Music Technology and Composition for our BMA program, and a major in Music Production for our smaller BA program.