Dr. Kevin Kjos

Dr. Kevin Kjos is the Co-Director of Commercial Music Studies and Professor of Trumpet. He directs Jazz Ensemble, Rock Ensemble, Latin Ensemble, and applied trumpet. His ensembles have been honored by 10 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards.

Before coming to Kutztown University, he was an ensemble leader/conductor, performer, and composer. He was the founder/director of the Minneapolis based Cedar Avenue Big Band that performed weekly at the famous Dakota Bar and Grill, and the new music group, The Sound Exploration Ensemble. As a trumpet player and band leader, he has performed in a wide variety of musical settings, from R & B to classical. As a composer he has won grants for both performance and recording.

He is the author of Teaching Imagination, a Guide to Jazz and Rock Instruction.

He holds a Bachelor of Music in Theory/Composition and a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, where he studied with Robert Baca, and a Doctor of Music from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington where he studied with David Baker, Dominic Spera, John Rommel and William Adam.