People

Dawn Norfleet, Ph.D. is a Los Angeles-based composer and musician with a strong connection to arts education advocacy across socioeconomic levels, and a passion for composition within and beyond boundaries of notated and improvised music.  She’s received numerous distinctions and commissions, including the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, American Composers Orchestra, and Ensemble for These Times. As a vocalist, she has worked with celebrated jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington since 2013. Additionally, “Dr. Dawn” serves as a mentor with a NAACP outreach program for gifted youth. An alumna of Columbia University and Wellesley College, she’s a member of the Jazz Studies Faculty at University of California, Irvine and teaches African American Music at UCLA.  A published scholar of African American Music, she’s presented lectures across the country.