I am Wouter Turkenburg, guitarist, musicologist, jazz history teacher, former head of the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands, Executive Director of the IASJ.

In 1977 I graduated from the Conservatory in Arnhem, The Netherlands on classical guitar. In 1983 I graduated 'cum laude' from the University of Amsterdam in musicology.

In 1985 I left my position as assistant director of the Music Lyceum, the Amsterdam Music School, to become the head of the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands.

In 1989 I started to teach jazz history at the University of Utrecht as an associated professor. In 2002 I started to teach the history of jazz at the Leiden University as an elective for students of various faculties.

In 1989 with saxophonist David Liebman I co-founded the IASJ, the International Association of Schools of Jazz, www.iasj.com

In September 2014 I started my research on the historiography of the history of jazz in Europe as a master of music student at the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory. A grant of the Ministry of Education in The Netherlands enabled me to enrol for two years to do the research component of the master of music study. I graduated in June 2016.