Awards

Jacobs School of Music Jazz Alumni Hall of Fame - 2016

About Buddy Baker

Buddy Baker earned a bachelor's degree in music from Indiana University in 1954. After completing his master's degree in 1959, he joined the IU faculty, charged with teaching trombone and beginning a jazz program. In those early years, he also toured with the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman big bands. In 1965, Baker moved to Colorado and founded the jazz studies program at the University of Northern Colorado, which subsequently developed into one of the premier jazz programs in the country. He maintained a very active career as a classical and jazz trombonist, clinician and author of method books for trombone.