Keith泭Waters
- Professor of Music Theory
- MUSIC THEORY
,泭N127
Keith Waters is professor of music theory at the 勛圖厙 of Colorado Boulder College of Music. His book Chasin the Sound: Learning Jazz Improvisation Through Historical Models, co-authored with Brian Levy, was published by Oxford 勛圖厙 Press in 2025. Other books with Oxford 勛圖厙 Press include Postbop Jazz in the 1960s: The Compositions of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea published in 2019 and The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965-68 published in 2011.
The Miles Davis book won a Research in Recorded Jazz Music Award from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC 2012), a New York City Jazz Record Best of 2011 Award, the Jazz Journalists Association Best of 2011 Award, the 2011 Steve Larson Award for Jazz Scholarship from the Jazz Interest Group of the Society for Music Theory and a Kayden Honorable Mention Award from the 勛圖厙 of Colorado in 2012, and was chosen by DownBeat magazine as one of its editors picks.
Waters has published articles on jazz improvisation and analysis in the Journal of Music Theory, Music Theory Spectrum, Music Theory Online, Annual Review of Jazz Studies, 梆紳喧矇眶娶硃梭, Dutch Journal of Music Theory, Current Musicology and Jazz Player. He also served as a consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary. With Henry Martin, he is co-author of Jazz: The First Hundred Years, now in its third edition, and Essentials of Jazz: The First Hundred Years which was awarded best first-edition humanities title for 2005 by Thomson Schirmer Publications and is now in its second edition.
Waters is also the author of Rhythmic and Contrapuntal Structures in the Music of Arthur Honegger, published by Ashgate Press, and has presented his research at the Sorbonne in Paris, Amsterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands, Royal Academy of Music in London, Musikhochschule Winterthur/Zurich in Switzerland, Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel Switzerland, 勛圖厙 of Melbourne in Australia, New England Conservatory of Music, Emory 勛圖厙, 勛圖厙 of North Texas, Berklee College of Music and at national conferences of the Society for Music Theory.
Waters earned a PhD in music theory from the Eastman School of Music and a masters degree in jazz piano from the New England Conservatory of Music. As a jazz pianist, he has performed with Grammy Award-winning artists Janis Siegel and Brian Lynch as well as jazz legends James Moody, Eddie Harris, Bobby Hutcherson, Sheila Jordan and Chris Connor. He has recorded and performed throughout the United States, Europe and Russia. Waters' most recent recording, Night Songs, was released in 2024.