Mark Breckenridge is an instructor of trombone, brass methods, and music history at St. Cloud State University. As a professor of music history, he has taught courses including Western Music History, Music in World Cultures, Music and Film, Jazz History, and Popular Music. He has served on the faculty of Alpena Community College, Collin County Community College, the University of North Texas, and Texas A & M University. He remains engaged in scholarship in areas concerning Soviet jazz artists and the Cold War, the globalization of “avant-garde” jazz, and music in Hollywood films. His publishing experience includes a Ph.D. dissertation and an article published in Jazz Perspectives regarding the international reception of jazz via the Voice of America broadcasts in the late 1960s.
As a performer he has played in several university and professional ensembles. These include the Central Michigan University Wind Ensemble, CMU Jazz Lab I, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and many chamber ensembles and jazz combos. In Texas he has performed and recorded with the University of North Texas Jazz Repertory Ensemble, the Two O’clock Lab Band at UNT, and the Texas A & M Trombone Choir.
As a director/instructor of music, he has taught private students and led college and university ensembles in the northeast Michigan and central Michigan areas including the Alpena Community College Jazz Ensemble, the ACC Chamber Ensemble, and the Phase One Jazz Band at Central Michigan University.
Originally from Michigan, Dr. Breckenridge received Masters degrees in Trombone Performance and Music Education from Central Michigan University. He holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of North Texas.