Background
DaCosta was born in Nigeria to parents of Jamaican heritage, who were Salvation Army missionaries.
composer university professor jazz musician
DaCosta was born in Nigeria to parents of Jamaican heritage, who were Salvation Army missionaries.
DaCosta completed his Bachelor"s at Queens College in 1952 and his Master"s in theory and composition at Columbia University in 1956, studying with Otto Luening and Jack Beeson.
After moving to Jamaica while DaCosta was young, they emigrated to New New York He studied with Luigi Dallapiccola in Florence, Italy under a Fulbright Fellowship, and shortly thereafter took positions teaching at Hampton University and the City University of New New York In 1970 he accepted a position at Rutgers University, where he taught until 2001.
He died the following year at the age of 72.
DaCosta"s works are marked by an infusion of elements of jazz, Caribbean music, and African music into the framework of Western classical music