Profile for Jeff Erickson

Brief biography

Dr. Erickson is the Director of Jazz Studies and Instructor of Saxophone at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Previously he was a Senior Lecturer for the UW Colleges, where he taught studio saxophone, jazz, music theory and aural skills courses for UW-Marathon County, UW-Marshfield, and UW-Online. Prior to teaching in the UW system, he taught saxophone and jazz studies courses at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, DePaul University, and a DMA in Jazz Saxophone Performance with a cognate in Classical Saxophone Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also busy as a guest artist and clinician at jazz festivals and schools throughout Wisconsin. He is one of just three current Wisconsin university saxophone instructors profiled in the 2018 book Wisconsin Riffs: Jazz Profiles from the Heartland.

His performing experience includes appearances with such artists as Clark Terry, Kurt Elling, Wayne Newton, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Frankie Valli, Bernadette Peters and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. He has also performed professionally with symphony orchestras, touring Broadway shows and been featured on a number of recordings. While living in Chicago he led his own jazz quartet and performed in numerous big bands, including the Big Band of Chicago, Barrett Deems’ big band and the 911 Mambo Orchestra. He has also played with many salsa and merengue bands and served as the musical director for Martin Vicente’s nine-piece afro-salsa group Energia! From 2003-08 he was the lead alto saxophonist and director for The Wisconsin Jazz Orchestra. Currently, Erickson leads his own jazz quartet that performs throughout Wisconsin and is a member of the saxophone quartet Voyageur and the La Crosse Jazz Orchestra. In addition to writing and arranging for jazz ensemble, he writes for his jazz quartet, and  he performed three of his own compositions at the  North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference. He is also active in JEN, the Jazz Education Network, presenting at multiple conferences on jazz and improvisation, including his original research on the use of rhetorical devices in jazz improvisation.