Distinguished Research Professor
Northern Illinois University

Steve Duke (1954) is widely known for his work as an accomplished classical and jazz saxophonist and for performing new music and computer music. As a teacher he is recognized for developing jazz and classical style crossover performance pedagogy and for the application of the Feldenkrais Method^® in learning to reduce stress in music performance. Steve Duke currently serves as a Distinguished Research Professor and Professor of Music at the School of Music at Northern Illinois University.

Duke’s versatility on the saxophone prompted Allan Kozinn of the New York Times to write, “Stephen Duke played the music with a gorgeous tone and moved easily between, say, the Coltranesque leaps and the supple fluidity of the Hodges pastiche.”

Featured in major classical, jazz and new music festivals and conferences throughout the United States and Europe, Duke’s solo performances include appearances at International Computer Music Conference, Synthesis Computer Music Festival, Arts Now Music Series, International Association for Jazz Education Annual Conference, Music Today Festival, Contemporary Music Festival, Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), World Saxophone Conference, World Music Institute Music Series, the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and Electronic Music Midwest.

Steve Duke’s early training began at age 5 on organ. He began studying classical saxophone at age 11, jazz study at age 14, and flute at age 15. Steve Duke received his a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Orchestral Performance-Saxophone at North Texas State University, now known as University of North Texas, where his principal saxophone teachers were James Riggs and Dennis Diamond. As an undergraduate student, he was awarded the Phi Kappa Lambda Outstanding Soloist Award, the highest award given for classical music performance. Duke also performed as lead alto in the renowned One O’clock Lab Band. In addition to his work on the saxophone he has studied extensively on the flute, clarinet and oboe with leading teachers, including Ralph Johnson and Clare Johnson (Flute), Lee Gibson (Clarinet), Gladys Elliot and Charles Veasey (Oboe). Duke studied jazz with Joe Daley and Joe Henderson.

His earlier work as a jazz saxophonist includes performances at Spoleto USA, the Hilton Head Jazz Festival, and the Elgart Jazz Festival. His has worked with notable jazz artists Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Wess, Roland Hanna, Grady Tate, Ed Soph, Zoot Sims, Nelson Riddle, Rosemary Clooney, Fareed Haque and Louis Bellison. As a classical saxophonist Steve Duke has performed for the American Ballet Theater, Bolshoi Ballet, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Chamber Orchestra, as well as on flute for the Illinois Chamber Orchestra. His commercial performances include Engelbert Humperdinck, Tommy Dorsey, Helen O'Connor, The Four Tops, Danny Thomas, John Gary, Larry Elgart, Doc Severinson, Frankie Lane, The Temptations, Marvin Hamlisch, Johnny Manthis, Bob Newhart, Danny Thomas, Helen O'Connor, John Gary, Si Zentner, Patti Page, Bob Hope, David Ruffin, Tex Benekee, Roy Clark, and Larry Elgart Big Band.

From 1982 to 1996 Duke performed and recorded duo improvisations in jazz and contemporary music with pianist/composer Joseph Pinzarrone. In 1994 Sony/Columbia released his first solo album “Monk by 2” featuring saxophone and piano duo improvisations with Pinzarrone on the music of Thelonious Monk.

Since 1993 Steve Duke has been active as a jazz soloist as well as commissioning and premiering new works for saxophone, including over 20 acoustic and electro-acoustic solo pieces. In 1995 he commissioned composer Larry Austin to write BluesAx, for alto and soprano saxophone and computer music, for which Mr. Austin was the first American composer to receive the coveted Magistere (Magisterium) Award in the 23rd International Electroacoustic Music Competition.

Steve Duke joined the faculty at the School of Music at Northern Illinois University in 1980. In 1999, Steve Duke was awarded the Presidential Research Professorship.

As a teacher, Steve Duke has dedicated himself to innovating pedagogical concepts in music performance especially in jazz and classical crossover-style performance pedagogy and also in helping musicians reduce stress in performance. Duke’s approach to teaching music is greatly influenced by his experience as a classical and jazz saxophonist and by his work on the flute and clarinet. The publication of his article “An Integrated Approach to Saxophone Technique” in Saxophone Symposium (Fall 1988) is the first article that articulates crossover-style performance techniques in classical and jazz music. In 1987, through his interest teaching classical and jazz performance and to reduce his own tension in performance, Duke trained to become certified in the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education, and in 1989 developed the first curriculum in the United States that applied the method to music performance. He has worked with hundreds of musicians throughout the United States in reducing tension in improving their awareness in performance. The publication of his article “Application of the Feldenkrais Method in Learning Music Performance” in Saxophone Symposium (Spring 1996), reprinted from its 1990 publication in the NIU Faculty Bulletin, is among the first articles that document applying the method for music performers.