Manuel — an accomplished trumpeter who earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in performance from Stony Brook University two years ago — is the president and founder of the Jazz Loft, a unique museum and performance space in downtown Stony Brook that has already become a home away from home for the University’s student jazz combos and big band.

Now, Manuel is joining the University as an Artist in Residence — a position created through an anonymous gift — and his new colleague, Professor of Jazz Studies Ray Anderson, couldn’t be happier.

40 Under Forty honoree Tom Manuel ’16 is joining Stony Brook’s Department of Music as Artist in Residence.

For Perry Goldstein, chair of the Department of Music in Stony Brook’s College of Arts and Sciences, Manuel’s scholarship — developed through his years of performing, teaching music in Long Island schools, and building the Jazz Loft’s collection — makes him an ideal figure to complement Anderson’s achievements as a performer.

“Long Island is a very important place – Stony Brook especially – for jazz education in America,” Manuel said. “The first not-for-profit organization for jazz, the International Art of Jazz, was started here in Stony Brook; the first concerts were held on the campus of Stony Brook University.”

And, while Manuel’s early activities as Artist in Residence will include teaching jazz history classes and trumpet lessons and supervising small ensembles, he envisions innovations that will add to Suffolk County’s proud jazz history.

With the resources of the Jazz Loft and the breadth of education that Manuel aims to offer, jazz at Stony Brook will become more accessible to a wider array of students.

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/new-endowed-position-strengthens-stony-brooks-jazz-chops/