Humanities

William Bares

NEH Distinguished Professor; Professor of Music

222 Lipinsky Hall
Phone: (828) 250-2312
Email: wbares@unca.edu

Associate professor of music William Bares received his Ph.D in ethnomusicology from Harvard University under the supervision of Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music. He taught at Harvard, Brown, Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory before becoming director of jazz studies at UNC Asheville. He has published articles in American Music, Jazz Research Journal, the Grove Dictionary of American Music, and Jazz and Culture, among others. An active pianist and music promoter in Asheville’s musical community, Bares coordinated “Ecomusicologies 2014: Dialogues”—a conference/festival that took place in Asheville in October 2014, and hosted the weekly Sunday Jazz Showcase at Asheville’s Isis Music Hall. His book, Jazz and the European Dream, is forthcoming on Routledge Press’s Transnational Studies in Jazz Series.

Education

• B.A., Amherst College
• M.M., University of Miami
• Ph.D., Harvard University

Courses Taught

• Jazz History (MUSC 357)/li>
• Humanities 414, Critical Perspectives on Contemporaneity (HUM 414)
• Humanities 414, The Individual in the Contemporary World (HUM 414)
• Music and Environmental Consciousness (MUSC/HON 178)
• African American Music: Slavery to Swing (MUSC 343)z
• African American Music: R&B to Hip Hop (MUSC 344)
• Music Experimentalism at UNC Asheville (MUSC 373)
• Transatlantic Jazz (MUSC 373)
• Music Business and Industry I (MUSC 382)
• Harmony and Improvisation II (MUSC 392)
• Harmony and Improvisation III (MUSC 393)
• Harmony and Improvisation IV (MUSC 394)
• Jazz Band: Big Band (MUSC 122)
• Jazz Band: Saxophone Quintet (MUSC 122)
• Jazz Ensemble: Thelonious Monk (MUSC 129)
• Jazz Ensemble: Eco-Music Ensemble (MUSC 129)
• Jazz Ensemble: Experimental Music Ensemble (MUSC 129)
• Jazz Ensemble: Trio Ensemble (MUSC 129)
• Jazz Ensemble: UNCA Scholarship Quintet (X-Tet) (MUSC 129)
• Applied Music: Piano (MUSC 191-491)

Publications

Books

• Bares W. (contracted; release 2020) Jazz and the European Dream: the Transatlantic Eternal Triangle, 2001-2008. Routledge Press, Transnational Studies in Jazz Series, Tony Whyton and Nick Gebhardt, eds.
• Bares W.  EcoJazz: Jazz, Race and Nature [in progress].

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Bares W. (2020). “A Jazz Course for the Information Era.” Jazz Education in Research and Practice, Vol 1, no. 1, Jan 2020.
• Bares W. (2019). “Europe, Western” in the SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. (SAGE Publications, 2019; Janet Sturman, ed.). Pages and article url pending.
• Bares W. (2018). “Review: Erroll Garner: No One Can Hear You Read.” Jazz and Culture [formerly International Jazz Archives Journal] Vol 1, no. 1. Spring 2018.
• Bares W. (2016). “Young German Jazz and the Politics of Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Germany.” Continental Drift: 50 Years of Jazz From Europe. Medbøe, Moir, Atton, eds. Edinburgh, UK. Continental Drift Publishing, July 2016: 1-17.
• Bares W. (2015). “Transatlanticism as Dutch National Spectacle: Universalism and Postpolitics at the North Sea Jazz Festival.” American Music, Volume 33.3, Fall 2015: 345-374.
• Bares, W. (2012). “Way Out East: Cowboys and Pioneer Women on Berlin’s Jazz Frontier.” Jazz Research Journal, Volume 6.2, Nov 2012: 171-201.
• Entries for the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2012-2016):
• Bares, W. (2016). “Joe Zawinul” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 641-2. Article url pending.
• Bares, W. (2013). “Roswell Rudd” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 255. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2276429
• Bares, W. (2013). “Brad Mehldau” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 432. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2276098
• Bares, W. (2013). “Marcus Roberts” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 157. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2276381
• Bares, W. (2013). “Acid Jazz” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 10-11. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2226805
• Bares, W. (2013). “Albert Murray” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 608. Article url pending.
• Bares, W. (2013). “Stanley Crouch” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 499-500. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2282477
• Bares, W. (2013). “Kevin Whitehead” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 487. Article url pending.
• Bares, W. (2013). “Mike Zwerin” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 662. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2263504
• Bares, W. (2013). “Tau Moe Family” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 117. Article url pending.
• Bares, W. (2013). “Hapa” in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2013; Charles Hiroshi Garrett, ed.), 41. Article url: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2284554
• Bares W. (2011). “Sounds of Silence: The Politics and Poetics of Norwegian Jazz.” American Music Review Volume XLI, No.1, Fall 2011: 9-11; 15.
• Bares W. (2011). “Play Your Own Thing, Play ‘Our’ Thing: ‘Young German Jazz’ und die deutsche Jazzidentität.” Hofheim 2011. Darmstädter Beiträge zur Jazzforschung, Band 11: 156-185.
• Bares W. (2007). “Jazz in the Loeb Music Library.” Golden Muse: The Loeb Music Library at 50 (Harvard Library Bulletin), Vol. 18.1-2, Spring-Summer 2007: 43-48.

Recordings

• Bares W. (2020). Take Two: Jazz Duets at the White Horse. Recorded in Lipinsky Hall, UNCA: May, 2016. William Bares, piano; various guest instrumentalists.
• Bares W., Ray J., Rodriguez J., Page Z., and Martin E. (2019). The Core: Turning Point. Recorded at Echo Mountain Studios, Asheville: Aug 15-16, 2016. William Bares, piano; Justin Ray, trumpet; Jacob Rodriguez, saxophones; Zack Page, bass; Evan Martin, drums.
• Bares W., Ray J., Rodriguez J., Page Z., and Martin E. (2016). The Core. Recorded at Echo Mountain Studios, Asheville: Aug 15-16, 2016. William Bares, piano; Justin Ray, trumpet; Jacob Rodriguez, saxophones; Zack Page, bass; Evan Martin, drums.
• Bares W. (2016). You Held the Light, I Found the Sign. © 2016 BaresMusic. Recorded at Balsam Pillow Studio: 20-21 June, 2012. William Bares, piano; Mike Holstein, bass, Austin McMahon, drums.
• Bares W. and DeCristofaro J. (2015). Dialogues. Recorded at Sound Temple Studios, Apr 2015. William Bares, piano; Jason DeCristofaro, vibes.

 

This faculty member teaches in UNC Asheville’s Humanities Program.