JOSIAH BOORNAZIAN

Dr. Josiah Boornazian is an award-winning saxophonist, composer, educator, electronic musician, and scholar of music most recently active in Utah, Europe, Texas, South Florida, New Orleans, Idaho, New York City, Washington state, and California. He is currently the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Dr. Boornazian has also taught applied saxophone and jazz studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, music technology at Broward College, jazz and general music appreciation at the City College of New York, and applied saxophone, jazz performance, and musicology at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, a Master of Arts degree from the City College of New York, and a Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Northridge.

As a performing and recording artist, Dr. Boornazian has been cultivating an innovative, technology-based jazz performance practice for several years, which began with his adoption of digital effects pedals for live performances. He has continued to develop his creative musical approach to include the use of software-based synthesizers, evolving electronic effects, and improvised digital accompaniment using Ableton, the popular digital audio workstation. His playing and composing have been featured on albums released by labels such as Jazz Hang Records, Elegant Noise Records, and the Barcelona-based Fresh Sound New Talent Records.

Dr. Boornazian’s recordings feature his original modern jazz compositions on albums released by Jazz Hang Records, Elegant Noise Records, and Fresh Sound New Talent Records, as well roughly thirty self-published jazz and electronic albums available on Bandcamp.com and all major online music streaming platforms. In his career as a jazz and electronic artist, Dr. Boornazian has performed with a stylistically diverse collection of renowned musicians including Mark Farina, Dave Liebman, Dave Holland, Nick Smart, Diane Schuur, Dave Grusin, Arturo Sandoval, John Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Ignacio Berroa, John Beasley, the New York Voices, Dafnis Prieto,  Steve Miller, Jimmie Vaughan, Mike Flanigin, Brianna Thomas, Will Downing, Tom Scott, Cyrille Aimee, Chris Potter, Sal Lozano, Marcus Strickland, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Drew Gress, David Binney, Wayne Krantz, Ari Hoenig, Donny McCaslin, Will Vinson, Ben Wendel, Fima Ephron, Jonathan Crayford, Obed Calvaire, Ferenc Nemeth, Alan Ferber, Matt Brewer, John Daversa, Kenny Wollesen, the Gil Evans Orchestra, Dan Weiss, John Escreet, Jacob Sacks, Lew Soloff, Massimo Biolcati, the South Florida Jazz Orchestra, and Shelly Berg, among others.

Recording and Composing

As a recording artist known for using the saxophone with electronic effects, Dr. Boornazian is featured on multiple studio and live albums as a leader, sideman, and collaborator. Releases as a leader include Chasing the Muse (Jazz Hang Records), Conversazioni (Elegant Noise Records), Intersection, Live at Frost, Live at the UTRGV PAC, and ÌKAN ÌPÀKÓ Live, which feature Dr. Boornazian's original modern jazz compositions and improvisations. Dr. Boornazian is also prominent as a composer and improviser on the collaborative studio recordings Simply Begin Again and A Dark and Stormy Day (Fresh Sound New Talent Records), which feature a quartet Dr. Boornazian co-leads with New York-based Italian pianist Alessandro Fadini. Links to hear and purchase Dr. Boornazian's music can be found here.

Dr. Boornazian's electronic music alias is "tymebrayker," and his releases, which are available here and on BandCamp, include New Amsterdam, Gables, Life Of, Grind, Time, Fabrik, Souplesse, Gravity, Refract, Icons, Codes, Crank/Shift, Effect, Talk, Tour, Symbols, Luft, Switch, Apart, Motion, Helvetica, Up, Always, and Tatata.​

A registered ASCAP composer, Dr. Boornazian has written for a wide variety of musical contexts. His output includes works for large jazz ensemble, string quartet, solo keyboard, solo saxophone, small jazz ensemble, electronic ensembles, and symphony orchestra. Dr. Boornazian has been commissioned to compose works for ensembles in California, New York, Texas, and Istanbul, Turkey. For more information, please visit Dr. Boornazian's online shop and contact Dr. Boornazian directly to purchase his scores or to commission a new work.

Teaching, Scholarship, and Performing

Dr. Boornazian is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Utah. He has taught applied saxophone and jazz studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, music technology at Broward College, jazz and music appreciation at the City College of New York, and applied saxophone, jazz performance, and musicology at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Additionally, Dr. Boornazian teaches private saxophone, music theory, Ableton, and composition lessons. He has been invited to give clinics, guest lectures, and masterclasses at universities, junior colleges, high schools, jazz workshops, and academic conferences throughout the United States and internationally, including the 2020–2025 Jazz Education Network Conferences, the 2023-2025 International Association of Schools of Jazz Conferences, the 2023-2025 Utah Music Educators Association Conference, and the 2022 Texas Music Educators Association Conference.

As an educator, Dr. Boornazian has contributed to the popular jazz website Learn Jazz Standards.com as an author, content creator, and consultant. As a scholar of music, he was awarded a Björn Bärnheim Research Fellowship at the Hogan Jazz Archive during the 2017-2018 academic year. r. Boornazian's peer-reviewed publications include: "Paul 'Stump' Evans, Russell Procope, and Gary Bartz: 'Alto-itis' and the Neglected Jazz Alto Saxophone Masters," in The Saxophone Symposium; "Teaching Jazz History with 'Jelly Roll' Morton, 'Inventor of Jazz,' as a Focal Point for Jazz Authenticity Discourse," "Mary Lou Williams and the Role of Gender in Jazz: How Can Jazz Culture Respect Women's Voices and Break Down Barriers for Women in Jazz while Simultaneously Acknowledging Uncomfortable Histories?" and “Topics vs. Timelines: Restructuring Jazz History Curricula for Today's Classroom” in Jazz Education in Research and Practice; "Teaching Jazz History Out of Order," "Spiral Historiography. A Balanced Alternative to Teaching Jazz History," and "Scale Choices, Modal Harmony, and the Interpretation of Slash Chord Notation for 'Naima by John Coltrane" in The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research; and "Nick LaRocca Vs. 'Jelly Roll' Morton: Notions of Authorship in the 'Tiger Rag' Controversy" in Jazz Perspectives. Dr. Boornazian's educational writings also include his paper "Teaching College-Level Jazz Skills Using Interactive Digital Technologies and the Flipped Classroom Model" and his e-book Creative Improvisation: A Concise Method.

Dr. Boornazian holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, a Master of Arts degree from the City College of New York, and a Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Northridge.
Performing

Dr. Boornazian performs regularly in and around his home base of Salt Lake City, Utah at venues such as the University of Utah Libby Gardner Concert Hall, the University of Utah Fine Arts West Building, Utah State University's Chase Fine Arts Center, the Capitol Theater, Caputo's Market & Deli, Hopkins Brewing Company, Kilby Court, The Clubhouse, The Pearl SLC, The Green Room, Hopkins Brewing, Violet, Casot, Sawadee Thai, Ballroom Utah, Felt, Old Cuss, Feldman’s Deli, Woodbine, Millcreek Common, Atelier Mill, Alibi, The Alta Club, the Springville Art Festival, and the Excellence in the Community Concert series at the Gallivan Center. I also performed at the Jazz Mentors Foundation Concert: “Local Pro” Big Band, Solo Tenor Saxophone Chair in Sandy, UT.and others. He has also performed and toured extensively in New York, South Florida, South Texas, California, Idaho, and Europe, where he has performed at venues such as Jazz Club Torino and Le Ginestre Jazz Club in Turin, Italy; the Galerie Depardieu in Nice, France; and CinemaPRO in Bucharest, Romania.​

New York performances include appearances at venues such as the Jazz Gallery, the 55 Bar, Rockwood Music Hall, the Firehouse Space, Trinity Wall Street, the ShapeShifter Lab, NuBlu, Zinc Bar, the Triad Theater, Somethin’ Jazz Club, The Shrine, Silvana, Caffe Vivaldi, the Porch NYC, and Club Bonafide. In New York, Dr. Boornazian has performed with artists such as Drew Gress, David Binney, Wayne Krantz, Ari Hoenig, Donny McCaslin, Dan Weiss, John Escreet, Jacob Sacks, Fima Ephron, Jonathan Crayford, Obed Calvaire, Will Vinson, Matt Brewer, Ben Wendel, Eivind Opsvik, Ferenc Nemeth, Alan Ferber, Brad Mason, John Daversa, Kenny Wollesen, the Gil Evans Orchestra, Mark Egan, Lew Soloff, Miles Evans, Mike Clark, Gil Goldstein, Yana Bibb, Jerry Watts, Nir Felder, Andrea Veneziani, Alessandro Fadini, and Massimo Biolcati.​

In Miami, Dr. Boornazian has performed with a variety of artists including Mark Farina, Dave Liebman, Dave Holland, Nick Smart, Diane Schuur, Dave Grusin, Arturo Sandoval, John Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Ignacio Berroa, John Beasley, the New York Voices, Tom Scott, Cyrille Aimee, Dafnis Prieto, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Will Downing, John Daversa, Errol Rackipov, Svet Stoyanov, John Yarling, Kate Reid, Melvin Butler, Steve Miller, Jimmie Vaughan, Mike Flanigin, Brianna Thomas, David Ake, Chuck Bergeron, the South Florida Jazz Orchestra, Janis Seigel, and Shelly Berg. In South Florida, Dr. Boornazian has performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Jazz in the Gables, Jazz at Jackson, the GroundUP Music Festival Miami, Lagniappe, Le Chat Noir, The Arts Garage, Ball and Chain, The Anderson, The Globe, Sunset Tavern, The Fish House, Coco Walk, The Standard, Pinecrest Gardens, Books and Books, Space Mountain Miami, the Open Stage, the University of Miami's Gusman Concert Hall, and The Breakers. In addition to in-person performances, Dr. Boornazian has performed for live broadcasts on South Florida's public jazz radio station, 88.9 FM - WDNA, and the University of Miami's radio station 90.5 FM - WVUM.

Dr. Boornazian has also performed in many of Los Angeles's premier venues, including the Valley Performing Arts Center, the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Jazz Bakery, the Blue Whale, the Baked Potato, Catalina's Jazz Club, the Curve Line Space, and Vitello's. Additionally, Dr. Boornazian has toured northern and central California. He has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival (2010, 2011), the California Jazz Conservatory (formerly known as the Berkeley "Jazzschool”), the Bakersfield Jazz Workshop, the Bakersfield Jazz Festival (2005, 2006, 2007), the San Joaquin Valley Jazz Festival (2010), and the Pasadena Jazz Institute, among others.

In the Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Boornazian has performed jazz and electronic music and given public lectures at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Performing Arts Complex, Dodici, the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, the Texas Southmost College Performing Arts Center, Las Ramblas, Broken Sprocket, El Hueso de Fraile, Sidebar, Angelita's Casa de Cafe, and Bodega Tavern and Kitchen. As a painter, Dr. Boornazian has had his visual artworks exhibited at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art in Brownsville, TX. For those who missed it, Artropolis published an interview and virtual walk-through of the exhibition here.