Rich Pellegrin is Associate Professor of Music Theory and Affiliate Associate Professor of the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the music theory area as well as commercial music courses in the Music Business and Entrepreneurship program. He previously taught music history, theory, jazz, and improvisation at the University of Missouri and the University of Washington.
As a pianist, composer, and bandleader, he has released seven albums on Origin Records and Slow & Steady Records. His record Down was reviewed in Downbeat Magazine, which described “moments of absolute bliss” and wrote, “Pellegrin does as the great pianists do, supplying encouragement and graceful touches in the background, before diving forward to take solos that are by turns florid and cracked, balletic and modern.” He is currently working on a multi-volume solo project.
Pellegrin’s research examines the role of salience in jazz analysis and has led to the development of his analytical model, Stable Norms and Salient Deviations (SNSD). He has presented research at numerous regional, national, and international conferences. His work has been published in Music Theory Spectrum (forthcoming), Intégral, Jazz Perspectives,The Journal of Jazz Studies (forthcoming) ZGMTH (Journal of the Society for Music Theory, Germany), Engaging Students, the Journal of Schenkerian Studies, and The Conversation; published in volumes by Vernon Press, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and KFU Publishing House; and featured in the NPR segment The Academic Minute. Pellegrin served as Guest Editor of a 2020 special issue of Jazz Perspectives devoted to John Coltrane, and his article on Robert Glasper won the 2024 Award for Excellence in Jazz Scholarship from Society for Music Theory’s jazz research group.
Dr. Pellegrin holds degrees from Oberlin College, Kent State University, and the University of Washington.