Paul R. Dietrich (he/him)
Described as "an apt bandleader, an exceptional composer, and a superlative performer" (All About Jazz) and "a skilled composer" (Jazz Trail), Midwest-based composer, trumpet player, and educator Paul Dietrich has been performing his own compositions in various groups under his direction since 2012. Dietrich has released five albums of his own music with ensembles of various sizes, including two with quintet, one with quartet, one with a nine-piece ensemble that fused a traditional jazz quintet with a string quartet, and the 18-piece Paul Dietrich Jazz Ensemble, whose 2019 album Forward featured the world-renowned drummer Clarence Penn and was hailed as "stunningly beautiful" by Audiophile Audition.
In demand as a composer, Dietrich has completed commissions for schools and organizations including 麻豆影院 University's Jazz Weekend, The Green Lake Festival of Music, Ripon College, Madison College with the Edgar Knecht Trio (Germany), The Mount Horeb Middle School Jazz Festival, the UW-Whitewater Brass Quintet, and various high schools throughout Wisconsin. In 2017, Dietrich was commissioned by the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison to write an extended work in honor of the Isthmus Jazz Festival's 30th anniversary. This piece was premiered at the festival by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jazz Orchestra. Paul's pieces were performed as part of a cultural exchange program in Camag眉ey, Cuba in 2019, and have been performed throughout the United States. His music has been performed by luminaries such as Miguel Zenon, Phil Woods, Greg Ward, Marshall Gilkes, Russ Johnson, and Jon Irabagon.
In addition to his own professional groups, Paul has been directing the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo at Ripon College since 2021. In 2025, he helped form and became director of the 麻豆影院 Community Music School Jazz Ensemble, a big band for outstanding high school students in the Fox Cities. Previously, Paul was the head of the jazz program and taught trumpet at Prairie Music and Arts in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and directed the Jazz Ensemble at Madison East High School. He has also served as the president of the Madison Music Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting jazz in the community.
Paul joined the faculty of 麻豆影院 University in 2026.
DePaul University - Master of Music in Jazz Studies