Patrick Hennessey, Jazz Band

Dr. Patrick Hennessey possesses a wide breadth of experience as a professional musician, educator, and ensemble director. A native of New Orleans with extended residences in Southern California and Hawai‘i, Dr. Hennessey's performance credits include the touring Broadway shows, A Chorus Line, Hello Dolly, Evita, Peter Pan, Grease, and Anything Goes. As a freelance musician he has played for such luminaries as Burt Bacharach, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Natalie Cole, Johnnie Mathis, Bob Hope, Marvin Hamlisch, and Rosemary Clooney, to name a few. Selected big band experiences of note have included the Del Courtney Orchestra, the Tom Kubis Big Band and performances with the Bill Watrous Big Band.

An experienced and versatile educator, Dr. Hennessey led the jazz ensemble program at the University of Hawai‘i to national acclaim, with performances at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, the Reno Jazz Festival, the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, and two appearances at the North Texas Jazz Festival in Addison. During his tenure he welcomed many renowned clinicians and guest soloists to work with his ensembles, including Jeff Jarvis, Jim Widner, Eric Miyashiro, Wycliffe Gordon, Bunky Green, Bill Cunliff, Kim Richmond, Bobby Sanabria, Emil Richards, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Gabe Baltazar. He has held adjunct positions at both Chaminade University of Honolulu and Brigham Young University - Hawai‘i and served as the education director / co-artistic director of the Manoa Jazz and Heritage Festival. Most Recently Dr. Hennessey was the Director of Bands at Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU), where he was charged with developing a comprehensive band program. He concluded his career at HPU leading the Wind Symphony on a concert tour, with performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Dr. Hennessey earned his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, writing his dissertation on Henry Berger (1844-1929), the legendary bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band. Die Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung un Förderung der Blasmusik (IGEB) selected his work for the 2010 Fritz Thelen Prize, given bi-annually for the outstanding dissertation in the field of wind music research. He also holds degrees in music education (MA) and trombone performance (BM) and maintains active membership in numerous professional and musicological organizations. Dr. Hennessey has presented his research both nationally and internationally on topics ranging from Hawaiian music to the jazz avant-garde and has published in the Journal of Band Research, the New Grove Dictionary of American Music Online, the IGEB Mitteilungsblatt, and Alta Musica.