Rate My Professor Dave Stamps

Dave Stamps is an Associate Professor of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College, where he directs the Gustavus Jazz Ensemble, coordinates the jazz area, leads the Arts Administration program, and serves as Assistant Provost of Faculty Development and Support. He joined the institution in fall 2014 as Assistant Professor of Music. Stamps earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he held the distinguished Othmer Fellowship; Master of Music degrees in Jazz Composition from the University of South Florida and in Jazz Performance and Pedagogy from Northern Illinois University; and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Prior to Gustavus, he served as Associate Director of Jazz Studies and Director Designee of UNC Jazz Press at the University of Northern Colorado, and as Managing Director of the Center for Jazz Composition and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida, collaborating with composer Chuck Owen to develop the Jazz Masterworks Series, International Jazz Composers’ Symposium, and International Jazz Arranging Competition.

An accomplished trombonist, composer, and arranger, Stamps has performed with ensembles including the Colorado Jazz Orchestra, Ninth & Lincoln Jazz Orchestra, Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge, Jim Widner Big Band, and Wil Swindler’s Elevenet, as well as international artists like Luiza Zan. His performances span the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Europe, featuring festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, and Festival Jazz en Lima. As an ASCAP member, his compositions are published through UNC Jazz Press and March of the Purple Penguin Music Publications and have been performed and recorded by professional and university jazz ensembles worldwide. Stamps co-founded the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers (ISJAC), serving as Vice President of Operations. His research interests include jazz composition techniques such as aural sound mapping, orchestration of mixed timbres, and improvisation facilitation; music entrepreneurship; and their intersections like music copyright and digital distribution. He presented a masterclass on jazz listening skills at the 2013 Jazz Education Network Conference and held residencies as guest faculty at Romania’s National University of Music in 2011 and 2013. At Gustavus, he teaches courses including jazz ensembles, improvisation, music arranging, music industry, recording techniques, and world music. In 2023-24, he contributed to the Faculty Task Force, recipient of the Gustavus Faculty Service Award. Under his leadership, the Gustavus Jazz Ensemble toured Malaysia and Singapore in 2020.