(B.A. Wesleyan University, 1997; M.A. Columbia University, 2003) is an
alto saxophonist who composes his own music and leads the Niko Higgins
Ensemble. His first recording is due out on Engine Studios (www.engine-studios.com)
in December, 2003. In addition to jazz and free jazz, Higgins has
extensively studied South Indian classical music at Wesleyan University
and studied studied Karnatic vocal music in Chennai, India on a 1997-98
Fulbright Fellowship. . He is currently doing graduate work in
Ethnomusicology at Columbia University. . His MA thesis, "Improvisers
Unite: Jump Arts, Free Jazz Improvisation, and Practice Theory,"
discusses free jazz interaction through his research on a New York City
organization, "Jump Arts." He presented a paper based on this research
at the 2003 national meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology.
Presently in his third year at Columbia, he is formulating a
dissertation project on improvisation.
Email: nah2002@columbia.edu