Andrew Watkins-Alcocer
Dr. Andrew Watkins-Alcocer, D.M.A., is an award-winning composer, arranger, and trombonist from Fresno, California. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by various ensembles world-wide, while maintaining an active career as a trombonist in both jazz, classical, and commercial idioms. As a performer, he was named “Outstanding College Trombonist” by the Reno Jazz Festival in both 2017 and 2018 and was a part of the “Outstanding Trombone Section” of the inaugural Jack Rudin Jazz Championships at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2020. As a composer, he has been award 2nd place in the America Prize’s Ernst Bacon Memorial Award, the Global Music Award’s silver medal for his piece “Soliloquy,” as well as their bronze medal for his arrangement of “Storm,” and has been selected multiple times to take part in masterclasses for the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC).
Alcocer earned his bachelor’s degree from CSU, Fresno, and attended the Eastman School of Music for his Master’s and Doctorate in Jazz and Contemporary Media. Upon graduating from Eastman with his master’s, he was also awarded the “Ray Wright Award,” named after the founder of the school’s jazz department. In addition to his individual accomplishments, Alcocer has performed with various notable ensembles, including the Dave Rivello Ensemble, BIOdance, the Eastman Jazz Ensemble, Fresno’s Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, Rumba 3/2, the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra, and the Yosemite Symphony Orchestra. Alcocer is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz and Commercial Media at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He has previously held positions SUNY, Geneseo, Clovis Community College, Reedley College, and the University of Rochester as an Instructor of Music Theory, and as the Director of the Eastman Jazz Workshop Ensemble.