Dr. Wes Parker has served as the Director of Jazz Studies at North Carolina State
University since 2006. He directs the jazz ensembles, coaches jazz combos, teaches jazz history and jazz improvisation, instructs students in the low brass studio, and served as the Assistant Director of the NC State Marching Band from 2006-2010. Dr. Parker holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Tennessee Tech University, a Master of Music in Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Trombone Performance and Pedagogy from the same university.

Parker’s trombone playing has been heard in jazz ensembles and orchestras throughout the United States. As an active freelance musician, Parker has performed with such artists as Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Michael Feinstein, Josh Groban, Aretha Franklin, Regis Philbin, Placido Domingo, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, the Temptations, and the Pointer Sisters. Under Parker’s direction, the NC State Jazz
Ensemble I has shared the stage with such great jazz musicians as Wayne Bergeron, Jeff Coffin, Bobby Shew, Chris Vadala, and Harry Watters.

An active clinician, Dr. Parker has worked with middle school, high school, and
collegiate jazz ensembles, as well as numerous marching bands throughout the Southeast.
Prior to his appointment at NC State, he served as the interim professor of trombone
at The University of Southern Mississippi, and spent time teaching public school in
Mississippi and Oklahoma.