Jazz guitarist and composer Lee Heerspink ’04 teaches Survey of American Music and offers lessons in contemporary and jazz guitar in the Department of Music. He also teaches and directs the Hope College Jazz Guitar Combo.

He developed his passion for jazz as a student at Hope. After touring in the US and abroad for four years in the US Air Force Band, he pursued advanced study in jazz, ultimately transcribing and analyzing the styles of contemporary jazz guitarists Pat Metheny and John Scofield. He has been a working musician for two decades, performing in Michigan and around the world as a session musician with various groups.

Areas of Expertise

• Jazz history
• Jazz theory/analysis
• Contemporary/jazz guitar pedagogy
• Small group composition/arranging 

Education

• D.M.A., Jazz Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2020
• M.M., Jazz Performance, University of South Florida, 2007
• B.M.E., Music Education, Hope College, 2004

Selected Work

• Monsters’ Impromptu, album with Jim Alfredson, Randy Marsh, Dutcher Snedeker and Caleb Elzinga, 2021  
• All Figured Out, album with Derek Brown and the Holland Concert Jazz Orchestra, 2020
• The Good Life: Live at Kimball Hall, album with the UNL Jazz Orchestra, 2017

Outside the College

When Lee Heerspink is not teaching or performing he loves spending time with family, trying new restaurants and going on walks with his bulldog, “Harvey.”