Jamie Ousley, D.M.A. (Fulbright Specialist, 2023)

Area Coordinator of Jazz | Associate Professor, Bass

Tel: 305.348.1605

Email: lousley@fiu.edu

Location: WPAC 144C

Jamie Ousley, D.M.A. is Associate Professor of Jazz Bass and Coordinator of Jazz Performance at Florida International University Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts. He has been one of the most in-demand bassists in south Florida since he moved to Miami in the fall of 1998 from his native home of Tennessee. He is a Latin Grammy Nominee and a Fulbright Specialist to Costa Rica. He earned his doctorate from the University of Miami in 2008 with the doctoral essay “Solo Techniques for Unaccompanied Pizzicato Jazz Double Bass,” which has received over 26,000 full-text downloads.

Over the past decade, Jamie has become a familiar figure on the south Florida jazz scene both as a leader and accompanist. The Miami Herald proclaims: “his tone and dexterity are prized by area jazz royalty and his sensitivity and creativity as an accompanist sought by vocalists from Miami to West Palm Beach.” Gold Coast & Boca Life magazines named him Jazz Musician of the Year in 2011. Jamie has been privileged to perform with many jazz legends such as George Shearing, Eddie Gomez, James Moody, Benny Golson, Ira Sullivan, and Bill Mays, to name a few.

Jamie has released four CDs on the TIE Records jazz label. His trio recording A Sea of Voices reached #8 on the US national JazzWeek radio charts and won several awards including the “Best of Show” prize at the Global Music Awards. His second CD, Back Home, was named “South Florida Jazz CD of the Year” by the Palm Beach Post. Jamie has also performed on three GRAMMY-nominated recordings: Jazz Flute Traditions with Nestor Torres, Bossa Nova Sinfonico as a guest soloist with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica, and Claude Bolling Goes Latin,for which he received his official Grammy nomination. He has released five more jazz trio recordings with his band “The Lost Melody” which actively tours internationally.

Jamie has presented clinics around the world at many prestigious universities and institutions with subjects ranging from jazz bass to improvisation. Highlights include presenting clinics at the University of Kyoto (Japan), the University of Mainz (Germany), both National Universities of Costa Rica, the Jazz in Situ Festival (Ecuador), Da Vinci University (Guatemala), Harvard University, the University of Miami Frost School of Music, the University of Florida, the Nashville Jazz Workshop, the Jazz Education Network Convention, and the New World School of the Arts for the Thelonious Monk Institute. He has been published by and given four conference presentations at the International Society of Bassists, the premier organization for bass players around the world.

Jamie has had the pleasure of performing for many celebrities, dignitaries, and heads of state including: President Bill Clinton, Governor Jeb Bush, Prince Albert of Monaco, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain, King Kigeli V of Rwanda, Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie of Ethiopia, Janet Jackson, Shirley MacLaine, Gloria Estefan, Heidi Klum, Sting, and the Dalai Lama.

CDs, music and more information are available from www.thelostmelody.com.