Music and African American Studies Professor Damani Phillips releases new CD

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Duality CD cover
Duality CD cover

University of Iowa Professor Damani Phillips has released a new CD, Duality (Dazzle Recordings).

From the Dazzle Recordings website:

"Duality is Damani Phillips’ fourth album as a leader and his first on Dazzle Recordings. This project is a double album containing one disc of varying flavors of traditional jazz and a second disc of jazz placed on equal footing with hip hop music. The project seeks to attract younger and less experienced listeners with the familiar sounds and grooves on the hip hop disc while pairing that music with an album of quality straight-ahead jazz. Comprised of a mixture of original compositions, arrangements, infrequently played jazz covers and hip hop songs (in both live band and track format), Duality contains something relevant to all listeners."

Phillips is an assistant professor in the School of Music and the African American Studies Program, both part of the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. He teaches courses in jazz history, jazz theory and improvisation, and African American music. He has taught and performed throughout the United States, England, and Japan.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.