Jim Puckett

Composer/Arranger/Orchestrator

     Jim  is a career church musician and Worship Pastor, currently serving in Richardson, Texas, and an adjunct member of the music faculty at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and the College of Professional and Graduate Studies at Southern Nazarene University.

     Writing for church Praise and Worship and modern Classical genres, he has composed and arranged for a variety of settings including chamber works, accompaniment orchestrations, orchestral and vocal works.

     His first album release In The Gardens, featuring Raquel Teare is available on all major digital platforms,  while the 2008 composition Nocturne appears on SUSTAIN VOL. 2, an album of piano solos, duets, and trios by various composers, released by Navona Records. The recording took place  in the historic Retuda Concert Hall in Olomouc, Czech Republic by Lucie Kaucká and Pavel Zlámal.  After recording, the duo performed the piece on the Parma Recordings LiveStage Recital "Music Across the Centuries" on May 27, 2020,  a live broadcast by members of the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra.

      Puckett's  works have received recognition in 2011 and 2010 from the National Academy of Music and awarded performances at the 2014 CFAMC National Conference, 2013 Contemporary Piano Residency and SCL Festivals, The SCI 2013 Region V Conference, SCI 2012 Region VI Conference, 2010 National Conference, New Music Festival IX & XII (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney), the 2010 SCL, and the SCI 2010 Region VI Conference. 

     Other recent works include Concerto For Percussion Quartet and Wind Ensemble, Fantasia for Bass Clarinet and Wind Ensemble, Three 4 Hand Drums (Percussion Quartet), In the Gardens (Piano), Meditation on “Evening” (Soprano/Piano), Danse de Cirque (Trombone/Piano), Somethin’s Gone Wrong Deep Within, (Trumpet/Piano), and Countdown for 7 instruments.

     Jim is a member of the Society of Composers. Inc., the Southeastern Composer’s League, and The Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. He served as a judge for the 2020 Society of Composers, International/ASCAP Student Composition Competition.

     He has studied with Frank Wiley, Peter Fischer, Leslie Dutton, and Richard Meek. He holds a Ph.D. in Music Theory & Composition from Kent State University, M.M. from Texas Tech University, and B.A. from Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

     Jim lives in the Dallas, Texas area with his wife Annette. They have three children and seven grandchildren who live in Tennessee and Ohio.