The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance announces that Jonathan A. Gómez will join the Department of Musicology as an assistant professor in the fall of 2024. Gómez is a musicologist studying Black American musics of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his work is situated at the intersection of music studies and Black studies.
“I am very excited to be joining the dynamic group of faculty at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance,” said Gómez. “As a scholar and musician, I am especially thrilled by the wide-ranging musical and scholarly interests of students and faculty, and the many opportunities for study, collaboration, and music-making in both SMTD and the broader university community.”
Gómez has a forthcoming article in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, and is currently at work on his first book project, tentatively titled The Way We Play: Hearing Black American History and Musical Identity, under contract with University of Chicago Press. He has presented his work at annual meetings of the American Musicological Society, Society for American Music, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Association for the Study of Arts of the Present, and the American Studies Association.
Gómez is a jazz saxophonist and has studied jazz and improvisation with Gary Keller, Mark Small, Rich Perry, Hal Crook, and George Garzone. He appears as a saxophonist on pianist Roberto Magris’s 2016 album Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery and on Rhode Island-based group Geo Trio’s 2019 release We Made an Album!
“We are thrilled to welcome Professor Goméz, a brilliant young historian specializing in jazz and Black American musics, to the Department of Musicology,” shared Gabriela Cruz, chair of musicology and associate professor of music. “We are looking forward to the many ways in which he will put his stamp on the scholarship and teaching in the department and to the collaborations we will spearhead between departments at SMTD and the university. Welcome Jonathan!”
Gómez received a BM in studio music and jazz from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, an MA in musicology from Michigan State University, and a PhD in music with a secondary field in African and African American studies from Harvard University, where he was also a presidential scholar. Gómez previously served on the faculty at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.