Dr. Wayne E. Goins is Associate Professor and Director of Jazz Ensembles at Kansas State University. He completed his Ph.D. at The Florida State University. After teaching experience in Boston and Chicago, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, where he conducted jazz ensembles and taught guitar at Morehouse College, Emory University, and Kennesaw State University. Dr. Goins toured extensively throughout Europe for Ichiban Records, for whom he recorded over twenty albums. He has performed music in Broadway plays for August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars,” and Pearle Cleagge’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky.” Dr. Goins continues to be an active participant in the field of music research, with numerous articles and presentations delivered at conferences across the United States.
2005 0-7734-6091-8 This is a biography on the career of jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, who was raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma during the Depression era in the Southwestern region of the United States. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the details surrounding the events that shaped Christian’s musical development, beginning with his early influences of ‘Territory bands’ and ‘western swing’ groups. The book documents Christian’s performances in the urban area of Oklahoma City on Second Street, better known as ‘Deep Deuce’, as well as his travels with both Anna Mae Winburn and the Alphonso Trent Orchestra. Christian’s discovery by producer John Hammond led to Christian’s membership in the Benny Goodman Sextet in August of 1939. The book also chronicles Christian’s most significant radio broadcasts, live performances, and recordings for Columbia Records, and also includes facts regarding Christian’s pioneering guitar style during the early 1940’s,as his performances at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem represented the connection between swing and bebop. The biography finally uncovers details into Christian’s private life, and his untimely death during the apex of the Goodman era.
2003 0-7734-6708-4 This book provides an overview of the basic practices found in jazz education and provides individual essays as a foundation for teaching strategies and resource materials, and a series of discourses on a wide variety of issues related to establishing and maintaining an effective jazz ensemble program.