Dr. Dee Spencer portrait

"A life measured in sets, students and standing ovations."

Dr. Dee Spencer is Professor of Jazz and Musical Theatre at San Francisco State University, where she founded the Jazz Studies degree program and directed it for five years. She holds a B.S. from Florida A&M, an M.M. from Washington University in St. Louis, and an EdD from the University of San Francisco.

She has performed, recorded, toured and judged with Wynton Marsalis (Jazz at Lincoln Center), Ledisi, Tower of Power's Lenny Williams, John Handy, Jimmy Scott, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Regina Carter, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Bernard Purdie, Jason Brock, and the GLIDE ensemble. Her latest recording, "Tranquility," arrived in 2018 — and each year she serves as an Annual Screener for the GRAMMY Awards.

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Years Directing Jazz at SFSU
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Years at Beaux
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Years on the Bandstand
GRAMMY
Annual Screener
Giving Back

Dee founded the SFJAZZ education program and has performed for a Kamala Harris fundraiser at the African American Cultural Center. As program director at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, she's helped build pathways for young musicians across the Bay. Her former students include the Braxton Brothers, Tia Fuller, and Howard Wiley.

IAJE NARAS SFJAZZ Stanford Jazz Workshop Community Music Center Women's Audio Mission People in Plaza Amateur Musicians Network

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