2026 TJEA Jazz Symposium
This event is NOT included in the TMEA convention costs, so you must be a current member of TJEA or pay for the symposium fee as a non-member separately to attend any of the sessions below. If you are not sure if your membership is current, you must have a PayPal receipt from July 30, 2025 through February 11, 2026 to qualify as a current year member of TJEA.
Costs:
Current TJEA Member: FREE
Join or Renew Memberships: $30.00
Non-Member: $40.00
Students (college age and below): $10.00
Make sure you secure your seat early by filling out and paying ahead of time at the link above, when available, via (PayPal). You can pre-register at the link until the symposium begins. On-Site registration is cash or check only or we will re-direct you to the PayPal symposium link above.
Dr. Winking will discuss various factors and elements when choosing the best repertoire for your jazz ensemble.
Professor Carrillo will present pedagogical techniques that will get your students excited about improvisation.
Professor Sencalar will present a session on the importance of transcribing jazz solos and how to incorporate them into your daily jazz vocabulary.
Dr. Crotts will present a session on how to get the most out of your ensemble by using various methods, strategies, and techniques that can be applied to your jazz ensemble and beyond!
Dr. Daversa will present a session focused on practical approaches to jazz composition and arranging.
Professor DuFour will present a drum set clinic that focuses on the role of the drummer in a big band and combo setting.
Keith Winking is a professor at Texas State University, where he teaches trumpet, directs the Texas State Jazz Orchestra, and is a member of the SouthWest BrassWorks. Dr. Winking received his undergraduate degree in Music Education from Quincy University, his M.M. in Trumpet Performance from Texas State, and his D.M.A. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. His teachers have included Raymond Crisara, Vince Cichowicz, Leon Rapier and Don "Jake" Jacoby. He has served as a visiting lecturer to scores of universities and conservatories, including the Crane School of Music and the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories. Dr. Winking has presented solo and ensemble concerts and clinics throughout the United States, Canada, Chile, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland and Russia. He is a freelance trumpet player, performing with many local and national groups, including the Austin Symphony, the Austin Jazz Orchestra, James Brown, the Manhattan Transfer, and the Austin Sinfonietta. He has extensive recording experience and has recorded national jingles for McDonalds and American Express. He has also taped numerous TV shows, including PBS's "Lonesome Pines," TNN's "Texas Connection," PBS's "Austin City Limits" and a taping for the BBC entitled "Rhythms of the World." He has presented papers at the International Trumpet and New York Brass Conferences and also published articles in The International Trumpet Guild Journal and the International Jazz Educators Journal. Dr. Winking is voting member of the National Association of the Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy's) and a clinician for the Selmer Company.
Tito Carrillo is a trumpeter, composer, and educator whose music blurs the lines between Afro-Caribbean music traditions and modern jazz. Born and raised in Austin, TX to a Puerto Rican father and Mexican-American mother, Carrillo came to prominence in the mid-90’s in Chicago’s rich jazz and Latin music scenes, becoming a top call soloist, bandleader, and freelance trumpet artist. The Chicago Tribune describes him as having “acquired a reputation as a fluid improviser, doubly blessed with a warm lyric style and technique to burn.”
The artists he has collaborated with are as diverse as his skill set: Chicago heavyweights Willie Pickens, Ryan Cohan, and Geof Bradfield; Chicago Latin groups Chinchano (Juan Pastor) and the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble (Victor Garcia); big bands such as the Woody Herman Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, and the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra (David Baker); salsa legends Andy Montañez, Cheo Feliciano, and Cuban flutist Orlando “Maraca” Valle; jazz greats such as Kurt Elling, Claudio Roditi, Jon Faddis, and Paquito D’Rivera; and pop icons Quincy Jones and Phil Collins.
Carrillo released his debut solo album in 2011, entitled Opening Statement (Origin Records), to rave reviews. His most recent project Urbanessence (Origin Records), was released in October 2022 to much critical acclaim, and remained on the NACC Latin Radio Charts for 24 straight weeks (peak #3).
Tito Carrillo possesses a passion for sharing his knowledge and inspiring future generations through jazz education. He has served on the faculties of Roosevelt University, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he served for 17 years as a full-time professor of jazz trumpet beginning in 2006. In the fall of 2023, Carrillo began his new role as Associate Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Texas State University.
He has taught at secondary and collegiate music programs across the U.S. and Latin America. Recently, he has directed his passion for teaching towards the launch in 2022 of his YouTube channel JAZZMIND, where he shares his expertise in trumpet techniques, jazz improvisation, and mindfulness for musicians. His long list of former students includes many who have established careers as both performers and educators and have won international jazz competitions at the highest level.
Altin Sencalar is a California-born, Texas-raised, New York-based trombonist, composer, and educator. A Yamaha Performing Artist and Posi-Tone Records artist, Sencalar is both a commanding bandleader and a sought-after sideman. His wide-ranging résumé includes performances with jazz luminaries such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride, Rodney Whitaker, David Sanborn, and Michael Bublé, as well as Motown legends the Temptations and the Four Tops.
Drawing on his Mexican and Turkish heritage, Sencalar infuses contemporary jazz with folkloric traditions from both cultures. The result is a sound that is deeply personal, sharply focused, and globally resonant.
The International Trombone Association Journal praised Sencalar for his “brilliance in sound with crystal-clear articulations and impressive control of the wide possibilities of the instrument.” All About Jazz described his tone as “full-bodied, weighty, and expansive,” adding that “Sencalar’s improvisations are rich in detail, balancing in-the-moment discoveries and adherence to the demands of the material.” In a four-star review of his 2025 album Unleashed, DownBeat’s Ted Panken called him “a crushingly strong player, whether gobbling changes at high velocities or portraying emotional vulnerability.”
Born in 1994 in Fremont, California, and raised in Temple, Texas, Sencalar picked up the trombone at age 11. He began his studies at Texas State University, where he studied euphonium and trombone under Austin jazz stalwart Freddie Mendoza. Though initially more focused on euphonium, a bootleg recording of Maynard Ferguson sparked a turning point — at 16, he committed fully to trombone. Early mentors included trombonist Elliott Mason and trumpeter Marcus Printup.
In 2014, Sencalar transferred to the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Andre Hayward — lead trombonist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He toured internationally as a soloist with the University of Texas Jazz Orchestra, performing at the Montreux and North Sea jazz festivals, and the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.
During his time in Austin, Sencalar became embedded in the city’s demanding gig culture, performing as many as five nights a week. He led his own groups and earned accolades in major competitions — including the American Trombone Workshop, the National Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition, and the International Jazz Trombone Competition.
Later that year, he met acclaimed trombonist Michael Dease, who invited him to audition for Michigan State University. Accepted into the program, Sencalar soon became Dease’s teaching assistant — a pivotal step into the professional jazz world. He went on to perform with Christian McBride’s big band and tour with the official lineups of the Temptations and the Four Tops.
Sencalar released his debut, Introducing Altin Sencalar, in 2017. He followed with Realization (2020), co-led with tubist Chris Glassman; Reconnected (2021), a chordless trio session; and Live at Monks Jazz EP (2022), a self-released concert document featuring trumpeter Dr. Adrian Ruiz, saxophonists Gene Centeno, Elias Haslanger, and Eric Hargett, pianist Damian Garcia, bassist Daniel Foose, and drummer Adam Jackson.
At a crossroads between a tenure-track position in Texas or moving to New York, Sencalar chose the latter. Within hours of signing his lease, he got the call to tour with Michael Bublé — joining a horn section composed largely of fellow Michigan State alumni. After seven months on the road, he signed with Posi-Tone Records and released his label debut, In Good Standing (2023), featuring saxophonist Diego Rivera, multi-reedist Patrick Cornelius, pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Rudy Royston.
Several of those players returned for his follow-up, Discover the Present (2024), joined by trombonist Michael Dease, alto and soprano saxophonist Markus Howell, trumpeter Anthony Hervey, bassist Raul Reyes Bueno, and percussionist Pete Rodríguez. His DownBeat-hailed 2025 release, Unleashed, featured a fresh cast: tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Greg Tardy, multi-reedist Bruce Williams, vibraphonist Behn Gillece, Kozlov on bass, and E.J. Strickland on drums.
At the top of his thirties, Sencalar is now a new parent, a devoted dog lover, and an artist driven by vision and conviction — constantly moving forward in music and in life. “Consistency, awareness, and intention,” he says. “That’s what I live my life by in everything that I do.”-
Dr. Chip Crotts serves as Professor of Pratice and Director of Jazz Studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology. A GRAMMY nominated artist, Crotts has performed and recorded for the Disney Company in Europe and the United States, and maintains an active career as a first call musician for national touring shows and orchestral dates throughout the United States. Chip has toured and worked with numerous international artists and ensembles, including Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Zac Brown Band,The Manhattan Transfer, Frankie Valli, Jamie Cullum, The O’Jay’s, The Temptations and Maynard Ferguson, among others.
He can be heard on recent albums with John Driskell Hopkins, Jennifer Holliday and Joe Gransden, as well as on the SeaBreeze Jazz label, with groups such as the Bob Meyer Concept Orchestra and Third Coast Jazz Orchestra. Chip was also a featured musician on the Grammy nominated “Celebration of Life” with Little Joe Y La Familia. Dr. Crotts has also been a featured soloist in some of the world’s premier musical venues, including Birdland, Blues Alley, Blue Note, Le Duc des Lombards (Paris, France), the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall.
As an educator and clinician, Dr. Crotts presents clinics nationally on Brass Pedagogy, Jazz Pedagogy, Breathing for Wind Players and Versatility in Performance. Highly involved in the marching arts, Chip has taught on the educational staffs of The Santa Clara Vanguard, The Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment, Spirit of Atlanta and is currently the Brass Caption Head of the 21-time World Champion Blue Devils.
Dr. Crotts is active as an adjudicator and serves in this capacity with organizations such as Bands of America, Drum Corps International, Drum Corps Japan, Taiwan Marching Academy, Music for All, Winter Guard International and many state music educator associations. As a clinician, Dr. Crotts serves nationally for jazz, marching and wind festivals, in addition to presenting topics such as Brass Pedagogy, Jazz Pedagogy, Breathing for Wind Players, Versatility in Performance and the Outdoor Performing Ensemble. His presentations have been given at prestigious conferences such as the International Trumpet Guild, New York Brass Conference, Jazz Education Network, International Association of Jazz Educators, Conn Selmer Institute, USBands Summer Symposium and The Midwest Clinic, among others.
Currently, Dr. Crotts serves as Vice-President of the Georgia Association of Jazz Educators, as well as being a member of NAfME, the American Federation of Musicians, the Jazz Education Network and The International Trumpet Guild. He is a past fellowship recipient from the Aspen Music Festival and Music at the Banff Centre (Canada) for Classical and Commercial Trumpet Performance, as well as a grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts, Georgia Tech Foundation, and recent selection as a Georgia Tech “Class of 1969 Teaching Fellow”.
John is a distinguished trumpet-player, composer, arranger, producer, bandleader and educator. He is also a multiple Grammy Award winner and nominee and the recipient of many other awards and honors. In addition to his active career as a performer and recording artist he is currently Professor and Chair of Studio Music and Jazz at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Daversa grew up in a musical household, where he passionately sang and played various instruments from a very young age, eventually picking up the trumpet. Throughout his childhood the family moved several times, residing in Oklahoma, Las Vegas, and Sacramento, and ultimately returned to Los Angeles where he attended Hamilton Academy of Music for his final two years of high school. While still a student he began writing for large and small jazz ensembles and performed regularly with his quartet, Second Generation. It was during this time that he began playing the Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI). As a member of the Monterey All-Star High School Big Band for four years, John toured Japan and performed with iconic guest artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, J.J. Johnson, and Clark Terry. Upon graduating high school, he was recognized with both the Herb Alpert Award and the Italian Heritage Award and soon began pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree at UCLA in music composition and performance. Throughout the 1990’s, Daversa continued to be recognized as one of the jazz world’s most promising young performers and composers, winning the National Trumpet Competition, the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Soloist Competition, and the David Joel Miller Award for Composition and Performance, and placing as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Trumpet Competition. During this time he founded and led various ensembles including the Junk Wagon Trio, The D.a.M. Band, which released an album in 1994, and the John Daversa Progressive Big Band, founded in 1996, which recorded Live at Catalina’s in 2000.
From 2000 to 2003, Daversa toured Europe as the musical director for Holiday On Ice: In Concert, performing on trumpet, EVI, electric bass and spoken word. During the production’s summer hiatuses, he returned to the U.S., performing at the legendary Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri with renowned American crooners Andy Williams and Glen Campbell. In 2004 Daversa returned to Los Angeles with a focus on higher education, earning a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Jazz Studies at the California Institute of the Arts in 2006 and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Studies at University of Southern California in 2009, where he was recognized with the USC Jazz Studies Department Award. For the following two years he remained at USC as an adjunct instructor where he was nominated for the Mellon Award for Excellence in Mentoring. In 2011 he accepted a full-time position at California State University, Northridge. Under Daversa’s direction, the school’s Jazz “A” Band was named the winner of the Collegiate Division Best Large Jazz Ensemble at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, Best Collegiate Jazz Band in the Downbeat Awards, and placed first at the California Allegiance for Jazz State Championship. During this time, Daversa formed the John Daversa Small Band and re-established the John Daversa Progressive Big Band. Lively monthly residencies at local jazz venues such as the Baked Potato, the Blue Whale, and Seven Grand established the personnel and chemistry, not to mention an enthusiastic following, for both of these ensembles. The compositions created for these performances generated the material for Daversa’s next few albums, including Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album (2011) and Artful Joy (2012). Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album received several Global Music Awards, including Best in Show, Creativity/Originality and Album Production.
Throughout this period, Daversa was the musical director for the popular TV actress and singer Renee Olstead, touring internationally and appearing on television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Late Night with David Letterman, and the Today Show. He composed numerous commissions for various universities and chamber music organizations, and in recognition of his songwriting, won an IAMA Songwriting Award. As an active member of the Los Angeles musical milieu, he performed and/or recorded with Fiona Apple, Burt Bacharach, Dori Caymi, André Crouch, Dr. Dre, Herbie Hancock, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, Regina Spektor, and the Yellowjackets, and played on various television and films soundtracks including King of Queens, The Five-Year Engagement and Promised Land. He also had the unusual distinction of being the trumpet player behind the scenes on Key and Peele’s comedy episode “Overly Competitive Trumpeters.” In 2013 Daversa was offered a position as Chair of Studio Music and Jazz at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami. Relocating from Los Angeles to Miami and teaching at this vibrant school turned out to be a creative and musical triumph. Within his role as professor and chair, he has aimed to create a space for an inclusive environment, encouraging collaboration, imagination, creativity, and free thinking. Under Daversa’s direction, the Frost Concert Jazz Band was awarded winner of the Collegiate Division Best Large Jazz Ensemble from the Downbeat Awards and twice awarded the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival award. The Frost Concert Jazz Band has performed in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago and produced multiple original albums. In 2020, Daversa received the Frost Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship. He was also honored by the The City of Miami Beach, which proclaimed February 23, 2020, “John Daversa Day”.
Since moving to Miami, Daversa has produced several noteworthy albums for both himself and other artists outside the realm of academia. In 2017 the John Daversa Big Band’s album, Kaleidoscope Eyes: Music of the Beatles garnered three Grammy nominations for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Arrangement Instrumental, and Best Arrangement Vocals or A Cappella. In 2019, American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom, a big band album featuring young DACA artists, won three Grammy awards for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Arrangement Instrumental, and Best Improvised Solo.
In 2019 and 2020 Daversa was musical director and producer for two important projects spearheaded by women: in 2019, Daversa was musical director and co-producer for the album Shoulder to Shoulder: Centennial Tribute to Women’s Suffrage, by the Karrin Allyson Sextet. And in 2020, he musically directed, co-produced, and played on Regina Carter Freedom Band’s Swing States: Harmony in the Battleground. The same year, the John Daversa Quintet released Cuarentena: With Family at Home, an album of original and traditional Cuban boleros that paid homage to familial love and the healing power of music during the time of COVID, featuring musicians Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Carlo De Rosa, Dafnis Prieto, and Sammy Figueroa.
Daversa’s most recent project, All Without Words: Variations Inspired By Loren (release April 30, 2021) is a lush orchestral trumpet concerto played by the John Daversa Jazz Orchestra, composed by Daversa’s friend Justin Morell, and dedicated to Morell’s autistic son Loren. Celebrating the bond between a parent and child, the album is a paean to the trials, tribulations, successes and heart-warming moments of raising a non-verbal son.
Daversa is dedicated to creating meaningful, honest music with positive intention. Surely his work will continue to gain recognition and his brilliance as both musician and educator will continue to thrive and entertain, bringing benefit both to students and music lovers throughout the world.
Native to the greater Houston area, Daniel Dufour is a musician with extensive performance and teaching experience across Texas. While he has planted roots in Austin, Texas, his work carries him to national and international appearances alike. Since 2012, Daniel has had the opportunity to share the stage with renown musicians such as Aubrey Logan, Seamus Blake, Andre Hayward, Diego Rivera, Alex Claffy, Joel Frahm, Rotem Sivan, Lynn Seaton, Pete Rodriguez, Carmen Bradford, Michael Dease, Adi Meyerson, Benny Benack III, Luther Allison, Chase Baird, and Randy Brecker.
As a sideman, Daniel has contributed on many recordings over his career and continues to be a top call for session work. Notable albums include Pete Rodriguez’s Caminando Con Papi (2013), Elias Haslanger Meets Mike Sailors (2024), and Aubrey Logan and Her Bigger Than Average Band (2024). Daniel has also performed on multiple television broadcasts for PBS, such as the "South Texas Jazz Project" and "Jazz Tonight." Daniel is a bandleader and composer in his own right, and has released 4 albums under his name that are available for streaming worldwide.
Daniel’s credits include many festival appearances as well, such as the Elkhart Jazz Festival, the Corpus Christi Jazz Festival, Jazz'S Alive Festival (San Antonio), the SHSU Bill Watrous Jazz Festival, Utopiafest, the Five Points Jazz Festival (Denver), LuluFest, the Syracuse Jazz Festival, and the Festival De Arte Nuevo (Chihuahua, Mexico). While Daniel stays busy performing in Texas, he continues to travel to play in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, and beyond.
He is currently the Lecturer of drum set at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches applied lessons and studio class. Daniel also instructs privately and has worked as a clinician and adjudicator for higher education throughout the country since 2015. He is an artist for Vic Firth Drumsticks and Zildjian Cymbals.
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