Dave Carpenter
Bassist Dave Carpenter has been working in the Los
Angeles studios for over twenty years. He is recognized
internationally for his recordings and tours with
Al Jarreau, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Daniels, Peter
Erskine, Kenny Werner, Dave Grusin, Buddy Rich,
Woody Herman, and many more. He is also an educator
having served as a clinician for the Henry Mancini
Institute, the Musicians Institute of Los Angeles,
North Texas University, the Jazz Academy in Princeton,
New Jersey, and has served on the faculty at Cal
Arts and currently teaches at USC. Dave was an
adjudicator for the 3rd Next Generation Festival
in 2007.
Terri Lyne Carrington
Drummer, producer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington
is a full-time professor at the Berklee College
of Music in Boston. Born in Medford, Massachusetts
in 1965, her storied musical career began at age
7. By age 11, she was awarded a scholarship to
the Berklee School of Music. Terri Lyne was mentored
by Jack DeJohnette and studied with the legendary
Alan Dawson, and has toured and recorded with an
endless list of jazz royalty, including Mike Stern,
Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Herbie Hancock and Wayne
Shorter. She was also the house drummer for the
1990s TV talk shows The Arsenio Hall Show and Vibe.
Her first solo CD, 1989’s Real Life Story, was
nominated for a Grammy. Her recent recordings include
2002’s Jazz Is A Spirit, and a re-release
of 2002’s Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix,
by French guitarist Nguyên Lê, which
features Terri Lyne on drums and vocals. Her newest
solo project, More To Say…Real Life
Story/Next Gen features Nancy Wilson, George
Duke, Patrice Rushen, Kirk Whalum, Everette Harp,
Christian McBride and more.
Corey Christiansen
Since he joined the Mel Bay Publications, Inc. team
as Senior Music Editor and advisor to Product Development
in 2001, guitarist Corey Christiansen has over
forty publications with Mel Bay and has conducted
countless guitar clinics and concerts across the
country and beyond. Corey began playing the guitar
at the age of five, with instruction from his father,
Mel Bay author and Utah State University professor
Mike Christiansen. Corey continued his passion
for playing the guitar at Utah State University,
were he received his Bachelor's Degree and many
honors and awards including the Outstanding Music
Student Award and Outstanding Guitarist Award.
Corey sought out renowned jazz guitar educator
Jack Petersen and began his studies as a graduate
teaching assistant at the University of South Florida,
receiving his Master's Degree in 1999. When Jack
Petersen retired that same year, Corey became the
adjunct guitar instructor at USF. Corey has visited
Australia for a two-week tour of stores and conservatories
and has performed at many notable festivals and
venues, including John Pisano's Guitar Night in
Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
D.C., the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy,
the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the Clearwater
Jazz Festival, the Daytona Beach Jazz Festival,
the Classic American Guitar Show, and the St. Louis
Jazz Festival. He has also performed and/or recorded
with many outstanding jazz artists including Jimmy
Bruno, John Pisano, Joe Negri, Willie Akins, Chuck
Redd, Rob McConnel, Sid Jacobs, Jack Wilkins, and
Danny Gottlieb.
Paul Contos
A saxophones and woodwinds virtuoso, Santa Cruz resident
Paul Contos has been an active professional musicians
and educator for over twenty years. In addition
to teaching on faculty at Cal State University
Monterey Bay, Paul directs the Next Generation
Jazz Orchestra, the Monterey Jazz Festival’s
international touring ensemble of top-ranked high
school jazz talent, and teaches for the MJF Traveling
Clinicians Program.
Sal Cracchiolo
Sal Cracchiolo is the trumpeter with the Grammy Award
Winning Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band. Sal has
performed on numerous albums with the Poncho Sanchez
Latin Jazz Band, Bobby Shew, Brian Setzer’s
Big Band, and many albums with the Clayton-Hamilton
Jazz Orchestra backing Diana Krall, John Pizzarelli,
Gladys Knight, Joss Stone, Jamiriquoi, and others.
He has also toured worldwide with Clayton-Hamilton
Jazz Orchestra, Poncho Sanchez, Brian Setzer, and
Tom Jones. He has played with Dizzy Gillespie,
Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, Stanley Turrentine,
Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Arturo Sandoval,
Eddie Harris, and Celia Cruz. He has performed
for and with these artists at the Monterey, Playboy,
Concord, and Nice Jazz Festivals plus many others
throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, Mexico, South
America and Japan. Sal and singer Melanie Jackson
have recently teamed up for the CD Fly and
have performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival, the
Vancouver International Jazz Festival, among others.
In January 2006, Sal and Melanie flew to Bangkok,
Thailand to perform for the American School of
Bangkok in a tribute to the King of Thailand and
to raise money for the tsunami victims.
George Duke
Legendary Grammy-winning pianist, producer and jazz-fusion
pioneer George Duke has been nominated for 14 Grammys,
and has received 10 Gold and 5 Platinum Album awards.
Born in San Rafael, California in 1946, he began
his piano studies at age seven. Influenced by Miles
Davis and the soul-jazz sound of Les McCann and
Cal Tjader, he attended the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music degree
in 1967, after which George and a young Al Jarreau
formed a group which became the house band at San
Francisco's Half Note Club, where he worked with
such artists as Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon.
In subsequent years, George has worked with the
royalty of jazz and pop, including Jean-Luc Ponty,
Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams,
Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Zappa, Stanley Clarke, Billy
Cobham and many more. As a producer, George has
steered numerous musical hits to the top of the
pop, adult contemporary, and R&B charts, including
multiple Grammy nominations for his productions;
a short list includes Deniece Williams, Jeffrey
Osborne, A Taste Of Honey, Dianne Reeves, Miles
Davis, and Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole and many, many
more. George has also acted as musical director
for numerous artists and television specials, including
the Soul Train Music Awards NBC's Sunday
Night Show and Anita Baker, to name a few.
George has released some thirty albums as a leader
and has appeared on, and produced, hundreds of
others.
Rosana Eckert
Rosana Eckert teaches vocal jazz at the University
of North Texas and is quickly gaining wide recognition
as a dynamic jazz singer, composer, arranger, and
educator. She has performed and/or recorded with
many outstanding jazz musicians including Kenny
Wheeler, Kevin Mahogany, Marvin Stamm, Jon Faddis,
and Lou Marini, and her quintet performs regularly
at concert venues and jazz festivals around the
country. Her vocal arrangements and original songs
have been performed by vocal groups around the
U.S. and abroad, and her music has been published
by Hal Leonard Corp. She is also on the faculty
of the UNT Summer Vocal Jazz Workshop and the Texas
All Star Jazz Camp. 2008 is Rosana's third year
as a Next Generation Festival adjudicator.
Matt Falker
Matt Falker is currently on the jazz faculty at Cal State Northridge and MiraCosta
College, where he directs vocal jazz ensembles and teaches jazz piano and other related
classes. His previous positions include the University of Southern California, Cal State
Fullerton, Fullerton College and Purdue Musical Organizations at Purdue University. He
also taught at Hamilton High School Academy of Music (a Los Angeles music magnet
program) and directed Jazz Incorporated, the Academy's award-winning vocal jazz
ensemble. The ensemble released three CD's and received two consecutive Down Beat
Magazine "DB" national awards for best high school vocal jazz ensemble. Mr. Falker also
teaches private jazz piano and voice.
A native of northern Michigan, Mr. Falker received his undergraduate degree from
Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo in jazz piano and his graduate degree from
the University of Southern California in jazz voice. An active performer and clinician
internationally, he served on the vocal jazz faculty for the 2006 IAJE Teacher Training
Institute, and was the vocal jazz representative on the Southern California Vocal
Association Executive Board. He has served as the guest conductor for both the All-State
Collegiate Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the LAUSD Middle School Honors Chorus. His
vocal arrangements are published by UNC Jazz Press and he has also published an
instructional DVD entitled “Jazz Piano For Singers, Volume 1”. Matt also plays
keyboards for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America.
Lynne Fiddmont
Vocalist Lynne Fiddmont was raised in St. Louis,
Missouri and began singing at a young age. Her
first professional gig in the late 1970s was touring
with the Crusaders across the United States. After
Lynne attended Drake University and then Boston
University, she accepted a scholarship to Berklee,
but then moved to Los Angeles in 1985 to pursue
a career in the performing arts. She has landed
backup vocalist gigs with Bill Withers, Lou Rawls,
Seal, Babyface, Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder Phil
Collins, and more. She has appeared on record with
the Rippingtons, the Zawinul Syndicate, Johnny
Mathis, Madonna, Norman Brown, Stevie Wonder, and
many others. In 2005, Lynne decided to establish
her own label, MidLife Records, and released her
debut recording Flow, in 2006. Encompassing
the contemporary adult sound that earned her the
reputation as being a consummate singer, songwriter
and producer, Lynne performed at the 50th Monterey
Jazz Festival in September 2007.
Mike Galisatus
Michael Galisatus is the Director of Bands at the
College of San Mateo in San Mateo, California.
Prior to his appointment at the college, Mr. Galisatus
was the band director at Aragon, El Camino, and
South San Francisco High Schools where his musical
ensembles consistently received top honors. Michael
has been the recipient of various teaching accolades
including the Peninsula Arts Council Arts Educator
of the Year for 2007, the Otter Distributors 2004
Jazz Educator Award for the state of California,
and the Gil Freitas Memorial Award for music education.
He is in demand as an adjudicator and guest conductor
throughout California, and currently holds the
office of President-Elect of the Bay Section of
the California Association for Music Education.
As a freelance trumpeter in the San Francisco Bay
Area, Michael has recorded with Pete Escovedo and
Queen Ida, and has performed with a variety of artists,
including Frankie Valli, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole,
Louis Bellson, Johnny Mathis, Mel Torme, The Temptations
and a host of others.
Billy Harper
Saxophonist Billy Harper was born in 1943 in Houston,
Texas. At age 5, he was singing at sacred and secular
functions and picked up the saxophone at age 11.
By age 14, he formed his first quintet as a high
school student. Billy attended the North Texas
State University where he studied saxophone and
music theory and received his Bachelor of Music
degree. Harper moved to New York in 1966 and began
performing with some of the icons of jazz, including
Gil Evans, Max Roach, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Lee
Morgan and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
Since then, he has performed, recorded and toured
Europe, Japan, Africa and throughout the United
States with these groups, as well as his own Billy
Harper Quintet. As a music educator, Billy has
taught at Livingston College, Rutgers University
and the New School and has received numerous educational
and composition grants from the National Endowment
for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council and
Creative Arts Program and has released an educational
CD-ROM entitled "The Creative Process of The
Jazz Musician." He has released sixteen albums
as a leader on the Black Saint, Soul Note, Evidence
and Denon labels, and has won multiple awards and
accolades for his recorded work, including the
International Critics Award for tenor saxophone.
Jon Nordgren
Jon Nordgren is the Producing Artistic Director for Cabrillo Stage and has served as the Director of Bands at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California since 2002. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University Hayward and was formerly Director of Jazz Studies and Director of Bands at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, an instructor at Las Positas College in Livermore, Monte Vista High School in Danville, and James Logan High School in Union City. He has served as Jazz Representative and Newsletter Editor of the Bay Section of the California Music Educators Association and the Newsletter Editor for the California Unit of the International Association of Jazz Educators. He is also a member of the Brubeck Institute Advisory Board at the University of the Pacific and currently serves on the board of the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival. Mr. Nordgren is listed in Who's
Who Among American Teachers and has adjudicated at Band, Jazz, and Solo & Ensemble Festivals throughout California. He has also presented clinics at the California Music Educators Association Bay Section Conference, the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival and for the United States Academic Decathlon program. As a professional musician, he has enjoyed a rewarding career as a freelance woodwind musician, conductor, arranger, and copyist. From 1983 until 1995 he was a member of the show orchestra at Steve Silver's musical revue, Beach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco, and has additionally performed in concert with many artists, including Pete Christlieb, Bob Sheppard, Bob Berg, Ernie Watts, Matt Catingub, Charles McPherson, Bobby Watson, Bobby Shew, Arturo Sandoval, Bruce Forman, Bill Watrous, Conrad Herwig, Steve Smith, Ed Shaugnessy, Sunny Wilkinson, Kitty Margolis, The Manhattan Transfer, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Little Anthony, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and more.
Lauren Sevian
Baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian has been performing
professionally since the age of 12. At the age
of 16 she won the Count Basie Invitational soloing
competition. By the age of 17 she had already performed
at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Village
Vanguard. Lauren came to New York in 1997 to attend
the Manhattan School of Music where she studied
with Mark Turner, Donny McCaslin, Steve Slagle,
Joe Temperley and Mike Abene. Lauren is a regular
member of the Grammy-nominated Mingus Big Band,
Howard Johnson's “Bear-tones”, The
Big “O” Orchestra, the Grammy-nominated
JC Hopkins Biggish Band, Ada Rovatti's Elephunk,
Travis Sullivan's Identity Crisis, Travis
Sullivan's Bjorkestra and the Todd Londagin
Big Band. She has performed with a variety of different
groups including the Mingus Orchestra, Mario Pavone's
Septet, Benny Rietveld & the Matching Ensemble,
Frank Lacy's Vibe Tribe, Charli Persip's Supersound,
Kendrick Oliver and the New Life Jazz Orchestra,
David Cassidy & “The Rat Pack is Back”,
Mike Smith's Supper Club Orchestra, the Stan Rubin
Orchestra, Earl McIntyre's Big Band, Diva, the
Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Van Dells, the Benny
Goodman Tribute Orchestra, the Harry James Orchestra,
Steve Slagle's Sax Quartet, and many more.
George Stone
George Stone has served as Division Chair of Performing
Arts for twelve years at Cuesta College in San
Luis Obispo California, where he designs both the
facility and their courses and directs and instructs
the popular Audio Technology Program and teaches
Music Theory. George has also a studio musician
and composer for live shows and television, working
with artists and groups such as Maynard Ferguson,
Clare Fischer, David Foster, Dave Grusin, Tom Scott,
the American Jazz Philharmonic and the Tonight
Show Orchestra with Doc Severinsen. He has composed
for industry entities such as CBS, NBC, HBO and
Disney. His extensive participation as a festival
adjudicator and clinician includes the California
Music Educators Association (CMEA), California
Band Director’s Association (CBDA), Southern
California School Band and Orchestra Association
(SCSBOA) as well as Buchanan, Dos Pueblos, Folsom,
and Westlake high schools. Other institutions of
higher learning employing his skills include University
of New Mexico, CSU Sacramento and Northridge, Northern
Arizona State University, Bellevue College (WA),
and the Reno International Jazz Festival. In addition,
all star and honor bands he has directed in the
past include the SCSBOA Jr. High and High School
bands as well as groups from New Mexico, Ventura
County, the Fresno-Madera Counties Music Education
Association and Reno. He has two recordings on
the Sea Breeze Jazz label.
Ron Westray
Trombonist Ron Westray was born in Columbia,
South Carolina in 1970. He attended South Carolina
State University as a Music Major, and in 1991, he
met and recorded with pianist Marcus Roberts. Within
two years, he had been invited to join the Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra and additionally won a full scholarship
for graduate studies at Eastern Illinois University. In 1994, he toured with
the LCJO and performed on Wynton Marsalis’ Pulitzer Prize winning oratorio, Blood
on the Fields. He has since served as Artistic Director of Jazz for Gallery
701 in Columbia, South Carolina, recorded a solo project, and recorded with Marcus
Roberts and Wycliffe Gordon, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis,
Dennis Jeter, Travis Shook, Veronica Nunn, and others. He has been commissioned
to compose and arrange for the LCJO, which includes original compositions for
Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, along with the works of Charles
Mingus and Ornette Coleman. He also regularly performs and tours with the Mingus
Workshop Band. Ron was an adjudicator for the 3rd Next Generation Festival in
2007. |
