Independent Historian

Rob Hudson is the Associate Archivist at Carnegie Hall in New York City and a freelance trombonist, composer and arranger.  His jazz compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Eastman Jazz Ensemble, the University of Northern Iowa Jazz Band, the Harvard Jazz Band, and others.

Hudson has a bachelor’s degree in music education from Lawrence University, and a master’s degree in jazz trombone performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He has taught jazz history, jazz arranging, and directed jazz ensembles at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Connecticut, and the Eastman School of Music.  Hudson is the author of Evolution: The Improvisational Style of Bob Brookmeyer (2003), and composer of Easy Blue Trumpet (2004), Thirty Modern Studies for Trombone (2005), and Thirty Modern Studies for Trumpet (2006), published by Universal Edition.

Charles “Charlie” Parker, Jr. (1920-1955)

Alto saxophonist Charlie Parker was the most influential jazz musician to follow Louis Armstrong, and one of the music’s few true revolutionaries.  The style he helped to create, called bebop, or bop, established jazz as an intellectual music that was no longer viewed merely as … Read MoreCharles “Charlie” Parker, Jr. (1920-1955)

From Opera, Minstrelsy and Ragtime to Social Justice: An Overview of African American Performers at Carnegie Hall, 1892-1943

“It is probable that this hall will intertwine itself with the history of our country,” said Andrew Carnegie in 1890, when he laid the cornerstone of the building that would become Carnegie Hall.  In keeping with Carnegie’s firm belief in egalitarianism and meritocracy, the hall … Read MoreFrom Opera, Minstrelsy and Ragtime to Social Justice: An Overview of African American Performers at Carnegie Hall, 1892-1943