James Sodke
Jazz Studies Instructor James Sodke teaches private lessons on piano and keyboards to students at all levels.
Fluent in all styles, including classical and jazz, James has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music education from UW Milwaukee, is an Associate Lecturer in music at UW-Parkside, a piano instructor at Racine’s Prairie School, and was a musical director for musicals at Carthage College. He is the Director of Traditional Music at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Racine, Wisconsin, and is a freelance editor, arranger, and engraver for Hal Leonard Publishing.
James has appeared with the national tours of: Dancin’, Zorba, Camelot, Chorus Line, Stop the World, the Rockettes, South Pacific, Grease, 42nd Street, Lou Rawls, Gladys Knight, The Moody Blues, The Mills Brothers, The Temptations, The Drifters, Danny and the Juniors, and Little Anthony.
He has performed with jazz greats Stanley Jordan, The Dorsey Band, and Dianne Schuur, and performed with the Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Waukesha Symphony Orchestras, the Milwaukee Civic and Chamber Orchestras, and Present Music. He has been a clinician/guest artist for the Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, Cudahy, Wausau, and Bowler public schools, and the rhythm section clinician for Wisconsin Honors Jazz Band.
He was nominated for a Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award (WAMI), Keyboard Player of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2023, and was named Winner in the Best Jazz Band category in 2008, 2009, and 2010.