Jack Petersen (guitarist)

Jack Leroy Petersen (born October 25, 1933 Elk City, Oklahoma) is an American jazz guitarist, pianist, composer, arranger, music publisher, music clinician, and renowned pioneer in jazz education who revolutionized guitar education.^[1] He was a pedagogical architect for jazz guitar and jazz improvisation at three institutions of higher learning:

First full-time jazz guitar teacher at the Berklee College of Music (1962–1965 – Inaugural Chair, Guitar Department)

Longstanding and influential jazz guitar artist in residence at the University of North Texas College of Music (1976–1988 – Resident Artist, Jazz Guitar, Improv).

Joining his close colleague, Rich Matteson, who was recruited from North Texas to build a new program at the University of North Florida focusing on jazz, Petersen built a jazz guitar program (1988–1995; fully retiring 1999 – Resident Artist and Associate Professor).

Biography

Career

Demand for Petersen's talent as a guitarist lured him away from college before he finished his degree, but he never lost contact with or mutual admiration for his collegiate mentors. Some say that, despite having no degree, Petersen's early influences from North Texas gave him the talent, vision, inspiration, and connections to make jazz guitar a highly respected discipline at major academic institutions of higher learning. Petersen laid foundations at three such institutions for future generations of guitarists to emerge well rounded in music and with academic diplomas.

• 1957: Petersen joined the Hal McIntyre Orchestra on September 8, 1957, in Knoxville, Tennessee, for its upcoming European tour.^[6]
• 1958-1962: Petersen was a Dallas studio musician recording jingles, first as a guitarist and sometimes pianist, then as producer, composer. Much of the work was making IDs for radio stations all over the country. Petersen once remarked in an interview that people don't realize the work that goes into it — "In 20 seconds, you've got to write a whole symphony".^[1]
• 1960: Gene Hall recruited Petersen to teach with him at Stan Kenton Band Clinics. As of 1977, Petersen has been with Stan Kenton Band Clinics for some 17 years.
• 1962: Petersen accepted an invitation by Lawrence Berk, founder of Berklee, to design and chair the first formal guitar curriculum at Berklee College of Music. Berk discovered Petersen through his affiliation with the Stan Kenton Band Clinics.
• 1965: Petersen returned to Dallas because of high demand to work as a performer and studio musician. While in Dallas, Jack and Claudette had a son — Scott Petersen (b. 1970, Dallas County, TX, now of Florida).
• Mid 1970s: Leon Breeden invited Petersen to develop the jazz guitar program at North Texas.^[7] Petersen, with jazz pianist Dan Haerle, helped lead a jazz improv curriculum that Rich Matteson had revamped.
• 1974: Petersen, along with Rich Matteson and Phil Wilson, founded the music publishing company, Outrageous Mother, Inc., a Texas corporation, to distribute their arrangements.
• 1988: Matteson recruited Petersen, his longtime colleague, to build a jazz guitar program. Rich Matteson, who had been teaching jazz at the University of North Texas for 13 years, was recruited in 1986 by the University of North Florida to build program focusing on America's legacy in music, jazz. Petersen taught at UNF as resident artist and associate professor until his retirement in 1995, retiring fully in 1999.
• 2003: Petersen moved to Prescott, Arizona, and performs regularly, particularly as guest artist and clinician around the country.

Guitar lab innovation

While at Berklee, Petersen introduced a guitar lab concept that transformed guitar education, particularly jazz guitar, with respect to sight reading and with respect to accommodating large numbers of guitar students. He created a big band composed of 12 guitars in three units of four – one unit would cover the woodwinds of a big band, one would cover the trombones, and one would cover the trumpets. The guitar players read single notes, just like horn players — no chords.^[1] Later, Petersen helped his colleague at North Texas, Rich Matteson develop a similar concept for low brass, creating a big band composed solely of low brass instruments. The Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort was composed mostly of renowned professional artists and educators.

Performance associations

Petersen's professional performance associations include the following:

Former students

Berklee College of Music

University of North Texas

University of North Florida

Prescott, AZ