Troy Davis

Biography

Troy Davis is the Director of Instrumental Music and Jazz Studies at West Valley College in Saratoga, California. He is also the Camp Director at Hayward La Honda Music Camp, Director Emeritus of the Oakland Municipal Band, and has served on faculty at Boston University, San José State University, San Francisco State University, College of San Mateo, and Aragon High School. He has appeared as guest conductor with the San Jose Wind Symphony, Winchester Orchestra, San Francisco Wind Ensemble, Cazadero Music Camp, the Peninsula Youth Orchestra, the Holy Names College Youth Concerto Festival, the Contra Costa County Honor Jazz Band, the North Tahoe County Honor Band, the Palo Alto Unified School District Honor Band, the Fremont Unified School District Honor Band, and the CMEA Central Coast Section Honor Band, as well as on international tours to China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, and Austria.

In addition to conducting, Dr. Davis is a freelance oboist and was a member of the Grammy-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with whom he recorded three albums. He has performed with many great artists around the Bay Area including The Grateful Dead, The Drifters, Sumi Jo, Dmitri Matheny, Taylor Eigsti, Mic Gillette, Garth Brooks, Robin Williams, Pete Escovedo, Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. He is also an active adjudicator for California Music Educators Association (CMEA), Music in the Parks, and Forum Music Festivals and was selected as an inaugural mentor for the CMEA mentorship program for young and new music educators.

Dr. Davis was honored as the CMEA “Outstanding Music Educator of the Year” for 2017, as a "Distinguished Music Educator" by Yale University in 2011, received the “Outstanding Achievement Award in Music Education” from Boston University in 2020, and the coveted “Oak TREE Award” for exemplary service to West Valley College in 2020. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music education from Boston University, Master of Arts in Teaching with a music education focus from Notre Dame de Namur University, and Bachelor of Music in oboe performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Publications include “Empathy and Deep Listening in Jazz Improvisation,” a book chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education and “Self-Assessment in Jazz Improvisation,” an article in the Psychology of Music journal.