Salute to Jazz Piano Masters

Theresa Chen, D.M.A., is an active, well-rounded musician as a keyboardist, composer, arranger, and pedagogue. She currently serves as an assistant professor of jazz studies at Texas A&M University–Kingsville (TAMUK). She is the first Taiwanese-American to teach jazz full-time at the music college in the United States. She has given clinics, lectures, and masterclasses around Taiwan and America. She holds certification by the Effective Teaching Practices program from Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). Her first jazz album, Whispering to God, was nominated in the Best Jazz Tune category of the 2022 Golden Indie Music Awards in Taiwan. She was also nominated in the top 8 for the People’s Choice—Artist/Band category of the 2023 Syracuse Area Music Awards (the SAMMYs).

Dr. Chen has shared the stage with famous jazz artists such as Gary Smulyan, Ingrid Jensen, Dave Liebman, Bria Skonberg, Boris Kozlov, Diego Rivera, Joel Frahm, Andre Hayward, Altin Sancalar, Allison Miller, Chien-Chien Lu, Nathan Graybeal (Saxologic), Christian Wiggs, Michael Wang, Will Lyle, Gerry Gibbs, and Scott Wendholt. She also performed at the SXSW, Texas Jazz Festival, South Texas Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival and many other prominent jazz venues in Taiwan, Central New York, and Central/South Texas area.

Dr. Chen is devoted to a series of performance projects on women jazz instrumentalists, historical improvisations, jazz in Asia, pedagogical methods of jazz/commercial music, and jazz music applied in Christian liturgies. Her publications can be found via Jazz Education in Research and Practice and the Journal of Jazz Studies. She has presented in many conferences and symposiums such as Jazz Education Network and SHE: Festival of Women in Music.