Professor Jose Luis Diaz Jr. currently serves as Associated Faculty and Director of Bands for the Music Department at Wagner College. His responsibilities include directing the Seahawk Athletic Band, Jazz Ensemble, and Concert Band and instructing various levels of musicianship and theory courses. Additionally, Jose Luis oversees the instrumental lesson program, other departmental ensemble offerings, and he is the advisor for the Music Education program. He was named the Director of Bands in 2017 and was appointed as the Director of Wagner College’s relaunched Marching Band in March 2013.
Under the direction of Jose Luis, the Seahawk Athletic Bands has performed at the annual NYC Veteran’s Parade, St Patrick’s Day Parade, Liberty Island, and the 50th anniversary of the Verrazano Bridge events for the Roadrunners association. “New York City’s Hometown Marching Band” has also performed in four Major Motion Pictures, including the Lionsgate film NERVE(2016), the Netflix production OKJA(2017), the Marvel/Sony film SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME(2019), and the HBO/New Line Cinema film THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK(2021). The Seahawk band also performed in episodes of the NBC series RISE(2018). In addition, Jose Luis also holds a composition credit for NERVE (Lionsgate).
Jose Luis is a graduate of the College of Staten Island (CUNY). He earned a B.S. in Music and later an M.S. in Educational Administration from St. John’s University and an M.A. Ed. in Higher Education, Organizational Leadership at Wagner College. He is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership in Music Education from the University of St. Thomas with a tentative completion date of Spring 2023. Jose Luis is trained in guitar, bass, piano, woodwinds, and percussion as an instrumentalist. He also serves as the Director of Bands for St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School.