Rich Pellegrin

Rich Pellegrin was appointed to the UF faculty in 2017 and is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship. He previously taught music history, theory, jazz, and improvisation at the University of Missouri and at the University of Washington, where he completed his PhD in 2013.

Pellegrin’s research examines the significance of the Salzerian analytical tradition with respect to both the classical and jazz idioms. He has presented papers at numerous regional, national, and international conferences. His work has been published in Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy, the Journal of Schenkerian Studies, Jazz Perspectives, and in volumes by Cambridge Scholars Publishing and KFU Publishing House. Pellegrin recently served as Guest Editor of a special issue of Jazz Perspectives devoted to John Coltrane. He is currently working on a book entitled Analytical Approaches to Jazz: Tonal, Modal, and Beyond.

As a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, he has released three albums on Origin Records’ OA2 label. His most recent record was reviewed in Downbeat Magazine, which described "moments of absolute bliss" and wrote, "Pellegrin does as the great pianists do, supplying encouragement and graceful touches in the background, before diving forward to take solos that are by turns florid and cracked, balletic and modern." He is currently working on a multi-volume solo project, the first disc of which will be released in 2021.

In 2014, Dr. Pellegrin produced the Mizzou Improvisation Project, an interdisciplinary festival which brought together a diverse range of scholars, performers, educators, improvisers, and composers. The festival included a collaborative recording session with Pellegrin’s Seattle-based band and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, material from which was released on his recent album, Down.

Dr. Pellegrin holds degrees from Oberlin College, Kent State University, and the University of Washington, and has also worked extensively as a church organist and choirmaster.