John Edward Hasse is an educator, musician, and award-winning author and record producer.  He serves as Curator of American Music at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.  Names “Ellington’s best biographer” by The Washington Post, he is the author of the acclaimed Beyond Category:  The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, to which Wynton Marsalis contributed the Foreword.

Hasse is also the producer of an Ellington CD boxed set and the curator of three Smithsonian exhibitions on Ellington.  He also co-curated the exhibitions Ella Fitzgerald:  First Lady of Song and A History of the Piano, As Seen Through Smithsonian Collections.

Hasse has received two ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in writing on music and two Grammy Award nominations.  He has been interviewed about American music in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other publications, and has appeared on PBS, NPR, Bravo, ABC Radio, CNN Headline News, and Entertainment Tonight.  A popular speaker and pianist, he has lectured and performed in North America, Europe and Asia.

TOPICS:

Imagine A World Without Art:  Why We Need The Arts More Than Ever

The Triumph of American Music

American Songs of Wartime

Duke Ellington, Genius Beyond Category

Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Song

Frank Sinatra, The Voice of America

Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz (A lecture-concert at the Piano)

“The audiences were enthralled by the performances and there were repeated requests for additional lectures by Dr. Hasse.”
                                                                     Cunard Line