David Baker studied with J.J. Johnson, Janos Starker, and George Russell. He has been honored with nominations for the Pulitzer Prize and the Grammy Award. Mr. Baker has received the Down Beat Magazine's New Star Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Jazz Education Hall of Fame Award, the National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award, and the National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters Award.

Mr. Baker serves as the conductor and artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He is president and former vice president of the International Association of Jazz Educators, president of the National Jazz Service Organization, and senior consultant for music programs for the Smithsonian Institution.

To his credit are more than 2,000 compositions, including jazz, symphonic, and chamber works; other publications include 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles.

He has served many music organizations including the National Council on the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League Board of Directors, the Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center, and the Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2001, Mr. Baker was honored as an Indiana Living Legend.

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