About
Kent Engelhardt holds a B.M. and M.M. from Youngstown State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the Society for Ethnomusicology, and the Jazz Education Network. Engelhardt is an active performer, composer, arranger, editor, scholar, author, and educator. His Charlie Parker research, including two books, is published by VDM, Oxford University Press, and the IAJE. He can be heard on recordings by his group Madd For Tadd, the Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and the Blossom Festival Band. Engelhardt is a Conn-Selmer Artist.
Engelhardt was awarded YSU Research Professorships in 2011-2012 for “The ‘Head’ Arrangements of the Count Basie Orchestra 1937-1939,” in 2012-2013 for “Musical Contextualization of Charlie Parker’s Solos with The Jay McShann Orchestra,” and CCAC re-assigned time in 2013-2014 for “The Music of Tadd Dameron for Harlan Leonard and his Rockets.” He received a Research Professorship for 2016-2017 for “Tadd Dameron: The Magic Touch,” which was completed for the centennial of Tadd Dameron’s birth in Cleveland and performed at the TRI-C Jazz Fest. “Tadd Dameron: The Magic Continues” was recorded by Madd For Tadd on Tighten Up.
His records can be heard on most internet music services. The double CD “Madd For Tadd: Central Avenue Swing & Our Delight” was released in January 2023 on Tighten Up Records and contains 22 of Engelhardt’s new editions and arrangements of Tadd Dameron’s music. Liner notes were contributed by jazz journalist, author, broadcaster, artistic director of the DC Jazz Fest, and former artistic director of the TRI-C Jazz Fest Willard Jenkins. In all, Engelhardt has created 47 critical editions and arrangements of Dameron’s music, and he has plans to create even more. In the near future, he plans on adding seven additional Dameron compositions and several originals to the group’s repertoire. Madd For Tadd has performed at the TRI-C Jazz Fest, the Kaleidoscope Festival at Slippery Rock University, the Lakeland Jazz Festival, Cleveland’s Bop Stop, Waterloo Jazz Festival at the Treelawn, and BLU-Jazz. Recently, Engelhardt performed the music of Tadd Dameron with the Orlando Jazz Orchestra at Bowling Green State University and at the University of South Florida.
