Dr. Harper is an American ethnomusicologist and jazz guitarist whose research interests include jazz and urban American history, music and labor, music pedagogy in Ghana, music and technology, music composition, and improvisation. In January 2020, Harper completed a seventeen-month Fulbright Scholar position in the University of Ghana’s Department of Music. His research from this and previous trips to Ghana bridge music production, audio archiving, and modern musical practice in Accra. Currently he is completing a book on the history of jazz in Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood. Harper completed his PhD in ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 and performs as a guitarist in Ghana and the US
