Roosevelt Griffin III, Ed.D.

Director and Professor of Jazz Studies

Roosevelt Griffin III, Ed.D., is a practitioner in music education. In his instructional methodology, Griffin emphasizes intentionality, care, and love, with a commitment to promoting musical excellence, unity, and diversity.

In 2017, Griffin founded the Griffin Institute of Performing Arts NFP, which positions the transformative power of the arts to elevate the lives of students and families across southern Cook County and beyond. In addition, he owns and operates GI Music LLC., serves as VanderCook College of Music’s One City Youth Jazz Program’s Co-Artistic Director, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s Director of Youth Ensembles, and Education and Community Engagement Director for the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra.

Griffin's contributions to the field have earned him numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2014 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, Distinguished Alumni (Concordia University), Most Outstanding Alumni (Northern Illinois University) and a street in his hometown of Harvey, IL, renamed “Roosevelt Griffin III Ave” in his honor. Most recently, he received the "2022 John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year" from the Jazz Education Network and Berklee College of Music, the "2022 Think Big Educator Award" from the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and the 2022-2023 "Dr. William P. Foster Community Development Award" from the Music Education Alliance.

Griffin's approaches to teaching have been documented in several prominent academic publications, including Teaching with Poverty in Mind, Teaching Music Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, JazzEd Magazine, and the co-authored books Teaching Music through Performance: Beginning Jazz Ensembles, Rehearsing the Jazz Band, and Harmonizing Ethics in Education. In addition, he was featured in an article entitled “Finding Strength in Everybody” in the April-May 2023 edition of the Instrumentalist Magazine.

To learn more about Roosevelt Griffin III, Ed.D., visit his website.