Javier Arau

Javier Arau (born September 30, 1975) is an American composer, saxophonist, conductor, theorist, author, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and executive director of New York Jazz Academy®, a popular New York City music school, leads the Javier Arau Jazz Orchestra, and is the author of several works on music theory and improvisation. A 2024 Grammy®-nominee for Grammy® Educator of the Year, Arau has been touted as “pioneering” (DownBeat magazine, May 2022 cover story) and a “jam warrior” (JazzWise magazine, January 2023) and has been featured in The New York Times and as a two-time cover artist for Saxophone Journal magazine. His compositions have received awards from ASCAP, BMI, DownBeat Magazine, and IAJE, and are published by UNC Jazz Press and Dorn Publications. An internationally award-winning saxophonist, Arau is an artist-endorser of Virtuoso Saxophones and has served as an adjudicator for the MTNA National Woodwind Chamber Music Competition finals. Javier's treatise on Augmented Scale Theory was presented at the 2009 International Jazz Composers Forum, and he has taught at New England Conservatory and Lawrence University. Javier studied with composer Bob Brookmeyer, theorist George Russell, and saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi. Arau currently resides in New York City with his wife and two daughters.