Brandon Douthitt

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana at the age of 11, Brandon Douthitt picked up a saxophone for the first time, beginning his musical journey.  Brandon has performed at festivals and venues throughout the United States such as the Indy Jazz Fest, CUNY Jazz Festival, AFROPUNK, City Winery NYC, The Jazz Kitchen,  National Sawdust, Groove NYC, Highline Ballroom, and many more. He has also been able to share the stage with musical talents like Solange Knowles, Bill Cunliffe, Melvin Rhyne, and Michael Philip Mossman. 

Brandon attended Lawrence North High School and was heavily involved in music both in and outside of school.  As a high school senior, Brandon was selected as the lead alto saxophone for the Indiana All State Big Band. He also received the Frank “Tooth” Mantooth Outstanding Musician award at the Larry McWilliams Dimensions in Jazz Festival at Ball State University. From 2009-2011 Brandon took lessons at Butler University and was regularly involved in the Butler Youth Jazz Program. It was through this involvement at Butler that led Brandon to enroll after graduating from Lawrence North High School in 2011.

While in undergraduate school Brandon studied saxophone with Dr. Matt Pivec and Nick Brightman. In addition to saxophone, he studied clarinet with Shawn Royer and jazz piano with Gary Walters. He performed with the Clifford Ratliff Big Band, Butler Saxophone Quartet, Wind Ensemble and served as lead alto saxophone of the Butler Jazz Ensemble. Brandon was also selected to be a “Music and More” student ambassador. As a Butler student Brandon taught lessons though the Butler Community Arts School and was a teaching assistant for the Butler Youth Jazz Program. During his final year he was honored with an Indianapolis Jazz Foundation scholarship and in May 2015, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. Following his graduation, he matriculated to Queens College to further his studies.

From 2015-17 Brandon studied saxophone under the tutelage of Antonio Hart and Tim Armacost. He also had the pleasure of learning from Michael Mossman, David Berkman, Jeb Patton, and Dennis Mackrel. Upon his graduation from Queens College with a Master of Music degree in Jazz Performance in 2017, Brandon was awarded the prestigious Jimmy Heath Award. While continuing to navigate and cultivate his music career in New York, Brandon was able to work with Solange Knowles; performing live in her horn ensemble at Panorama NYC, AFROPUNK NYC, the Made in America Festival, & Radio City Music Hall (Dave Chappelle Residency).  Brandon also became the primary saxophone instructor at Keiko Studios. With the hopes of increasing his musicianship and music production skillset, Brandon enrolled at the Juilliard school in the Fall of 2018. His stay was brief as he accepted an offer to teach at Kentucky State University (Frankfort, KY) beginning Spring 2019.

Brandon served as the Assistant Professor of Woodwinds & Music Industry at Kentucky State University from Spring 2018-Spring 2021. While teaching at Kentucky State University, Brandon continued to hone his skills both as a musician and pedagogue. It was through his experience at Kentucky State that helped him develop his teaching style and truly learn what teaching methods are most effective. During his tenure at Kentucky State University, Brandon was selected as a semi-finalist in the 2020 North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Saxophone Competition (hosted at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona).  He was also selected to perform and share some of his research he conducted while working at Kentucky State.

Now relocated back in his hometown of Indianapolis, IN, Brandon currently teaches saxophone privately and is a freelance saxophonist/producer.