Jazz & African American Music Studies Faculty

Jeffrey W. Holmes

Professor, Director of Jazz & African American Music Studies, Composition, Conductor

Jeffrey W. Holmes.
Holmes plays keyboards with the Paul Winter Consort, leads the Jeff Holmes Big Band featuring his wife, vocalist Dawning Holmes, and plays lead trumpet with the New England Jazz Ensemble. Recent recordings as performer and/or composer/arranger include the Jeff Holmes Quartet release "Of One's Own," the New England Jazz Ensemble’s “Peter and The Wolf“, HGTS’s “…and then they played…” and projects by Paul Winter, colleague Felipe Salles, and Earl MacDonald. He continues to appear as a guest conductor/clinician/adjudicator and performer/composer/arranger.
Jeffrey W. Holmes.
Felipe Salles

Professor, Jazz Studies, Composition, Conductor, Saxophone

Felipe Salles holding three music instruments including a saxophone.
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the US since 1995, where he has worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists, including Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, David Liebman, Melissa Aldana, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Magos Herrera, Sofia Rei, Yosvany Terry, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia, as a sideman and as a leader of his own group.
Felipe Salles holding three music instruments including a saxophone.
Fumi Tomita

Associate Professor, String Bass (Jazz)

Fumi Tomita holding a bass instrument.
Fumi Tomita is a jazz bassist, composer, educator, and author.  As a bassist, he was active in the New York jazz scene for over fifteen years.  His 2019 recording, The Elephant Vanishes: Jazz Interpretations of the Short Stories of Haruki Murakami, was released to critical acclaim by Origin Arts records and was listed in the top ten records of 2019 by Jazziz. His 2020 release Celebrating Bird: The Music of Charlie Parker was similarly received. 
Fumi Tomita holding a bass instrument.
Robert Ferrier

Adjunct Faculty, Jazz Studies, Jazz Guitar

Robert Ferrier
Robert Ferrier holds a BM in Performance from Berklee College of Music and an MM in Jazz Composition/Arranging from UMass Amherst. A freelance guitarist and teacher, Ferrier has performed with Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker, Eddie Bert, John Fedchock, Claudio Roditi, Yusef Lateef and Peter Erskine. His teachers have included John Laporta, William Leavitt, Herb Pomeroy, Bill Pierce and George Garzone.
Robert Ferrier
Haneef N. Nelson

Adjunct Faculty, Jazz Trumpet

Haneef Nelson holding a trumpet.
Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Uniondale, NY, Haneef N. Nelson has been a lifelong lover of music. His original music and Big Band arrangements have been featured around the world and on the records of the New London Big Band as well as Dr. Emmett Goods album Another Level.
Haneef Nelson holding a trumpet.
Ben Barnett

Adjunct Faculty, Jazz Trombone

Ben Barnett, trombonist
Ben Barnett has made a name for himself in NYC's jazz scene as a consummate musician and educator. He is from Long Island, NY, and is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music, Purchase College, SUNY ('16). There, he studied with John Fedchock and Tim Albright. Ben also received an M.M.Ed. from Hofstra University ('22).
Ben Barnett, trombonist