David Baker

Who is David Baker?

David Nathaniel Baker Jr. is an American symphonic jazz composer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, David Baker attended Crispus Attucks High School. He was educated at Indiana University, receiving both his Undergraduate and Masters in Music Education from that institution.

He thrived in the Indianapolis jazz scene of the time, serving as a mentor of sorts to Indianapolis-born trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Originally a talented trombonist, he was forced to abandon that instrument after a jaw injury left him unable to play.

Following the injury, he learned to play cello, a rare instrument in the jazz world. This shift to cello largely ended his career as a performer and marked a period of increased interest in composition and pedagogy. Among the first and most important people to begin to codify the then largely aural tradition of jazz he wrote several seminal books on jazz, including Jazz Improvisation.

As an educator he has helped make Indiana a highly regarded destination for students of music.