John Edward Hasse

Award-Winning Music Historian & Curator Emeritus, the Smithsonian Institution

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Biography

One of America’s foremost music historian-educators, Dr. John Edward Hasse helps audiences understand the power music has to move and inspire us to greater heights. Read More >

John Edward Hasse is a museum curator, author, speaker, and leader in his field. For the last 32 years, he has served as Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, where he curated exhibitions on Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles, and founded the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and Jazz Appreciation Month, now celebrated in all 50 states and in 40 countries. Recently, he transitioned from Curator to Curator Emeritus—a lifetime honor—at the Smithsonian. He is also a former Chairman of Smithsonian Music.

He is author of an acclaimed biography, Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, with a Foreword by Wynton Marsalis, and editor of Jazz: The First Century, with Forewords by Quincy Jones and Tony Bennett. Hasse is co-author of Discover Jazz and co-producer/co-author of the Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology. He is a contributor to The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and eight encyclopedias. As an expert on 20th century American music, he has been interviewed in The New York Times, on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, PBS, CNN, and many other news outlets. Hasse also served as the principal advisor to the U.S. Postal Service on its stamp series Legends of American Music that began with Elvis Presley.

He earned a B.A. Cum Laude from Carleton College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University, two Honorary Doctorates, and a Certificate in Business Administration from The Wharton School. He has received two Grammy Award nominations and two ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in writing about music. Berklee College has named him their Herb Alpert Scholar-in-Residence for two years in a row, 2017 and 2018. Active in cultural diplomacy for the US State Department, Hasse has lectured on leadership, the arts, and music in 20 countries on six continents. Read Less ^

Speaker Videos

Leadership Lessons from the Jazz Masters Trailer

Collaborate Creatively to Make Beautiful Music Together

Why We Need the Arts More Than Ever

7 Lessons from Music about Collaboration

Collaborating by Putting Ego Aside

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Speech Topics

Leadership Lessons from the Jazz Masters

In today's swiftly changing business environment, success is captured by the masters of innovation: those who find creative ways to lead, address challenges, and sprint to the head of the pack. The lives of the great jazz masters are rich with lessons that can teach us how. Read More >

Because improvisation is the heart and soul of their art, jazz musicians are among the most consistently creative professionals of our time. In improvising their music night after night on the bandstand, they take calculated risks to produce creative results. And the musicians must be ever-resilient in the moment and over time: this music's history has been about inventing and accommodating rapid change.

In a well-illustrated presentation, Smithsonian curator, author, jazz pianist, and NPR commentator John Edward Hasse shares secrets from the lives of jazz masters that can inspire and benefit people in business.

You will learn: Read Less ^

How the jazz musician's art – rehearsing, jamming, improvising, and keeping things fresh – can be applied to business
How, as a young man, Louis Armstrong revolutionized American music and taught everyone new ways of practicing an old craft
How Duke Ellington developed his secrets for finding, stimulating and retaining individual talent
How Ellington's affirmation of diversity can inspire today's business leaders
How Miles Davis continually reinvented himself as an artist throughout his career
How Miles dealt with major change in and out of the workplace
How Miles taught – and learned from – the young people he hired
How Ella Fitzgerald successfully navigated major changes in public taste
How the most brilliant jazz masters have thought "outside the box" and created new paradigms

Collaborate Creatively to Make Beautiful Music Together

"To say 'None of us is as smart as all of us' underscores the key role collaboration can play in achieving success. Music is a field where creative collaboration has produced one brilliant result after another. Creating 'music' together can spur innovative ideas among diverse teams and individuals, and teach the skills necessary to succeed—creativity, teamwork, accountability, and problem-solving. In this presentation, Dr. John Edward Hasse, Curator Emeritus of Music at the Smithsonian Institution, reveals the secrets of successful collaboration in five key lessons drawn from music: Listen closely, Trust, Tune up, Harmonize, and be sure to Jam and Riff. Using examples ranging from George Gershwin to Duke Ellington, from the Beatles to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Dr. Hasse looks at how these artists worked as teams to negotiate their creative differences and to spark new ideas. This fresh, inspiring presentation is a must-see, illustrated with video clips and live demonstrations at the piano."

Imagine a World Without Art: Why We Need the Arts More Than Ever

Imagine a world with no art. No movies, no plays, no theater, no poetry, no novels, and no music. So difficult is it to imagine a world bereft of art, it's nearly inconceivable. That's because the arts give so much meaning to our lives. As clean air and water are to the human body, art is to the human spirit. Art feeds our souls, expresses our creativity, stimulates our imaginations, and inspires us to reach for excellence. Read More >

In this stimulating presentation, Dr. John Edward Hasse of the Smithsonian Institution lays out an invigorating and compelling case for why, more than ever before, we need the arts in our lives. For example: the arts embody the human imagination, record human achievement, and, along with language and higher reasoning, distinguish us as a species from the rest of the animal kingdom. We humans form communities and cultures by making art: poems and paintings, drama and dance, sculpture, stories, and songs. The arts form links from people to people, culture to culture, and age to age. And, if the arts are vital to the lives of adults, they are especially critical in teaching our children.

Dr. Hasse offers an emotionally engaging, wonderfully dynamic presentation that includes: Read Less ^

Moving audio-dialogue from "Hamlet" and The Grapes of Wrath
Tributes to Van Gogh and Charlie Chaplin
A sample of "The Nutcracker" ballet
Poetry by Emily Dickinson
Excerpts from Bizet's opera "Carmen" and "Beethoven's 9th Symphony"
Ella Fitzgerald singing Gershwin and Judy Garland doing "Over the Rainbow"
Duke Ellington's infectious "Take the ‘A' Train" and part of a soaring Louis Armstrong trumpet solo that will lift you right out of your seat
A piano solo from Dr. Hasse himself – a solo that never fails to move his audiences

The Triumph of American Music

Everywhere you go in the world, you hear American music. You can hear the twangy chords of country music in the hamlets of Ireland, the hypnotic beat of rock on the streets of Singapore, Gershwin sung in a Copenhagen cabaret, and jazz insinuating itself into a warm Moroccan night. American music is one of the hottest things to leave our shores, becoming among our most pervasive and sought-after exports – more so than American art, theater, dance, or literature. Read More >

Just why is American music so resoundingly popular? So uniquely compelling to peoples the world over? Dr. John Edward Hasse, Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution and author of several books on music, answers these and other questions.

The Triumph of American Music is richly illustrated with timeless recordings. You'll enjoy the music of John Philip Sousa, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein. You'll hear William Warfield singing the majestic "Ol' Man River," Ella Fitzgerald interpreting "Irving Berlin," Frank Sinatra doing Hoagy Carmichael's romantic "Stardust," as well as Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, and other great music makers.

You'll hear and learn about the highlights of our music. You'll be filled with appreciation for the all-American geniuses who gave us our best symphonies and our finest songs. American music boasts a truly extraordinary vitality, vibrancy, elasticity, and expressiveness. It's one of the great things about our country. Ours is a music born of freedom, the sound of which is unlike any other. It is unique, for truly nobody makes music like Americans do. Read Less ^

Testimonials

"The weekend couldn't have gone better. He surpassed expectations. What a wonderful human being--so gracious and supportive of everything we are doing. In addition to the other keynote speakers’ addresses, Dr. Hasse attended the Saturday evening's activities as well. I'm so glad he was able to offer such a great presentation to us."

- Herbert Wescoat Memorial Library

"I want you to know how innovative I thought his presentation was. As one of the secretaries typed a brief summary of the meeting for my distribution to students, she commented to me about how impressive his session must have been. Even mere word descriptions about his performance excite people! He shared his talents with us and was such a gracious presenter. If his presentation had been recorded, I would use it in my graduate education classes as an example of Master Teacher!"

- Patricia S. Yoder-Wise, RN

"His presentation was both insightful and thought provoking as he related his experiences from being a jazz master who has had to improvise or take calculated risks to produce positive results. The method in which he related his experiences to the medical profession was exemplary. The audience greatly enjoyed his presentation as well as his jazz performances on the piano."

- American Medical Group Association

"John Edward Hasse was instrumental in making our annual meeting one of the most positive and upbeat in recent memory. His ability to engage a very senior level executive audience with a message that resonated with them in a unique and enjoyable way energized our audience. John’s presentation was key to setting the tone for the meeting."

- American College of Healthcare Executives

"The buzz about his presentation is palpable. We greatly appreciate the significant contribution to the meeting and the power of his lesson for us."

- The Cleveland Clinic Foundation

"It was a pleasure to meet you and hear your delightful and substantive presentation at the Institute 100 event. You did a wonderful job, and the feedback has been terrific. We received many glowing comments on both your talents as a pianist and speaker. Your creative approach to leadership had a wide appeal and made a great impact on our audience."

- Institute 100

"It was an extreme pleasure to work with Dr. John Edward Hasse for our recent American Academy of Nursing Annual Meeting and Conference. Our attendees continue to rave about his keynote presentation, setting a tone that made it one of the best in 30 years. Dr. Hasse’s patience, kindness, knowledge and ability to relate to our attendees justify why his presence at your event will be a complete success. He is a dynamic speaker that motivates attendees and encourages them to think outside of the box."

- American Academy of Nursing