Jim Romain

Dr. James Romain serves as Associate Professor of Saxophone and Assistant Director of Jazz Studies at Drake University in Des Moines, IA. He was the first saxophonist to be awarded the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a student of Professor Debra Richtmeyer. While at UIUC, he was awarded the Cooke Fellowship, served as teaching assistant for the saxophone studio, and won the woodwind concerto competition. At UIUC, Dr. Romain co-founded the Red Onion Saxophone Quartet, an ensemble that has taken prizes in regional North American Saxophone Alliance competitions and was awarded the silver medal at the 2001 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He has performed with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Champaign-Urbana and U of I Orchestras, and in numerous master classes.

In July of 2003, Dr. Romain premiered a new sonata by Chinese composer Jian-Jun He at the World Saxophone Congress, and recorded that work for a compact disc that was released in China. In 2006, at the 14th World Saxophone Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia, he gave the world premiere of Mark Engebretson's SaxMax, and the European premiere of Bill Dougherty's Howl.

In May of 2007, James Romain joined his Drake colleagues in Mexico City as Artist in Residence at the 1a Academia de Mùsica 2007. They presented daily master classes at the Escuela de Musica Vida Y Movimiento at the Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztli, and participated in daily rehearsals at the Instituto de Humanidades Y Ciencias (INHUMYC).

James Romain is an active chamber musician. He is currently the baritone saxophonist with the Oasis Saxophone Quartet, also featuring Dr. David Camwell from Simpson College, Prof. James Bunte from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Prof. Nathan Nabb from Morehead State University.

Dr. Romain holds prior degrees from the University of North Texas, where he was a teaching fellow and a student of Professor James Riggs. As a jazz saxophonist, he has performed with Clark Terry, Ron Miles, Eric Gunnison, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

Dr. Romain's artistic mission focuses on fostering the establishment of the saxophone as a medium of serious musical expression, and actively contributing to the establishment of a substantial body of serious music for the instrument, through individual commissioning of composers, consortium commission projects, and the presentation of these works to the public through recitals, concerto performances, and recording projects.

Commissions, Premieres, and Dedications:
• The Rivers for solo alto saxophone and wind ensemble by John Fitz Rogers (2007)
• Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra by Lewis Spratlan (2007)
• SaxMax for soprano saxophone, computer, and computer operator by Dr. Mark Engebretson (2006)
• Howl for alto saxophone and tone generator by Dr. William Dougherty (2006)
• Contact (Asx/Pno) by James Matheson (2005)
• Not Yet (Asx/Pno) by Roscoe Mitchell (2004)
• Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano by Jianjun He (2003)

Discography:
• Reminiscence: A Special Collection of Works by Jianjun He (Chinese import)
• In Friendship (Centaur Records-forthcoming)

James Romain~Saxophonist