Join us for our annual TJEA Symposium - a day filled with amazing jazz pedagogy!
For more information, please contact the symposium host, Utah Hamrick at Utah.Hamrick@txstate.edu.
9:00 AM - 9:50 AM - Making Good Choices: Selecting the Correct Jazz Repertoire – Michael Kamuf - Alfred Music
10:00 AM - 10:50 AM - Kickstarting Your Jazz Band: How to Get Your Band Swingin’ and Playin’ the Blues - Tonia Mathews, Small MS
11:00 AM - 11:50 AM - Directing the Jazz Orchestra: A Professional’s Process - Scotty Barnhart - FSU
12:00 PM - 12:50 PM - LUNCH
1:00 PM – 1:50 - Small Steps: Improvisation for the Beginning Jazz Ensemble - Michael Kamuf - Alfred Music
2:00 PM - 2:50 PM - Rhythm Section Pedagogy - Ellen Rowe, Univ of Michigan
3:00 PM - 3:50 PM - Improvising Over Jazz Ballads - Joseph Jefferson, St. Olaf College
Mike Kamuf is an exclusive writer for the Belwin Division of Alfred Music Publishing with titles in their jazz, orchestra, and concert band catalogs. Many of Mike's published jazz ensemble arrangments have become standard literature for young jazz ensemble and he currenctly has over 100 publications in print.
Mike has performed with the Woody Herman and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, has recorded as a member of the Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra and leads his own jazz octet, the Mike Kamuf Little Big Band, comprised of outstanding musicians from the Baltimore and Washington DC areas.
Recently retired from teaching instrumental music in the Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools, Mike has directed the Pennsylvania All state Jazz Band, the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Directors Association (SCSBOA) Jazz All stars, the New Mexico All State Jazz Band, and many regional honors ensembles in Californiz, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico and New York. Mike has presented professional development sessions for music educators at the Midwest Clinic, jazz Education Network Conferences and at numerous regional and state music education conferences. He has become an in-demand arranger, clinician, guest conductor and adjudicator for schools, conferences and music festivals across the country.
Please visit Mike's website at www.mikekamuf.com.
She has 12 years of high school experience in Austin ISD, the last nine of those years at Austin High School. There she was the Director of Jazz Studies and Wind Ensemble in addition to assisting with the marching band. Ms. Mathews led the jazz program to be one of the most successful in the district and nation, winning numerous awards at state festivals and placing more students in region jazz and all-state jazz than any other school in the Austin area. In the spring of 2008, the Austin High Jazz Ensemble was chosen as one of the top 15 jazz bands in the nation to perform for the prestigious Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City performing for judge Wynton Marsalis.
Tonia is in her 15th year of Director of Bands at Clint Small Middle School continuing its high level of music performance success with Superior ratings at Band and Jazz Festivals. In 2023, the Small MS Jazz Ensemble was a National Jazz Band Winner of the Mark of Excellence. She is a member of the Texas Jazz Educators Association, Texas Music Educators Association, and the Texas Music Adjudicator’s Association.
SCOTTY BARNHART is an internationally acclaimed Jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, author, producer, two-time Grammy Winner, and Director of The Count Basie Orchestra. Prior to being selected Director in 2013, he was its featured trumpet soloist for 20 years, and in 2015 was Executive Producer of A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas!, the very first Christmas recording for The Count Basie Orchestra. It went to #1 on the charts. Under his leadership, the orchestra won the Downbeat Magazine Readers Poll as the #1 Jazz Orchestra in the world for 2018, and their 2018 recording, All About That Basie, featuring special guest Stevie Wonder, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. The orchestra’s 2021 recording, Live At Birdland, also produced by Barnhart, immediately became a #1 Best Seller on Amazon, and was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award. It’s 2023 release, Basie Swings The Blues, also produced by Barnhart, features blues legends Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, Keb’ Mo’, George Benson, and others was also nominated for a Grammy in 2024.
Scotty appears on three critically acclaimed recordings with pianist Marcus Roberts and over twenty others with artists as diverse as Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, and Ray Charles. He has performed with Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Nat Adderley, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, Buddy Guy, Barbara Streisand, George Benson, and many others, been featured in the Asian Wall Street Journal, performed at The Academy Awards, and is in demand as a soloist and lecturer on jazz history all over the world. In 2009, Unity Music released his solo CD, Say It Plain. It reached #3 on the Jazz Charts.
Scotty is co-founder and Artistic Director of The Florida Jazz and Blues Festival, and Professor of Jazz Trumpet with tenure at Florida State University, where two of his former students won 1st place in the National Jazz Trumpet Competition. His groundbreaking book, The World of Jazz Trumpet – a Comprehensive History and Practical Philosophy, was published in December 2005 to rave reviews. The updated edition contains over 55 interviews with many of the most important Jazz trumpeters of the last 100 years and is due for completion in 2023. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University with a degree in Music Education, and in 2017 he was honored as a distinguished alumnus with a permanent plaque and photo being placed within the Gallery of Distinction in the FAMU Department of Music. Barnhart has appeared as guest conductor and lecturer at such prestigious institutions at The Juilliard School of Music and others and is profiled in the book Trumpet Kings, which places him among the greatest jazz trumpeters in history. He was awarded The 2021 National Performance and Outstanding Leadership Award from The Newspaper Publishers Association of America, and The 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida A&M University. He resides in Tallahassee, Florida.
Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Rayburn Wright and Bill Dobbins. Prior to her appointment in Michigan, she served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut.
Winner of the Hartford, CT Advocate Readers’ Poll for Best Acoustic Jazz, Ms. Rowe has performed at jazz clubs and on concert series throughout the U.S., as well as touring in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, South Africa and Australia. CDs out under her own name include “Sylvan Way”, “Wishing Well”, “Denali Pass” and “Courage Music.” Her latest project, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”, featuring Ingrid Jensen, Tia Fuller, Marion Hayden and Allison Miller was released in January of 2019. Also active as a clinician, she has given workshops and master classes at the Melbourne Conservatory, Hochshule fur Musik in Cologne, Grieg Academy in Bergen and the Royal Academy of Music in London, in addition to many appearances as a guest artist at festivals and Universities around the country.
When not leading her own trio, quartet or quintet, she is in demand as a sideman, having performed with a wide variety of jazz artists including Kenny Wheeler, Tim Ries, Tom Harrell, John Clayton, Ingrid Jensen and Steve Turre. She was also a guest on two installments of Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” on National Public Radio.
Ms. Rowe's compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, U.S. Navy Commodores, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, London Symphony, DIVA and the Perth Jazz Orchestra. Many of these works can be heard on recordings including “Leave It To DIVA”, “The Perth Jazz Orchestra”, “Bingo” (The Bird of Paradise Orchestra) and “I Believe In You” (DIVA). She has recently been a composer-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Recent jazz ensemble commissions include the Minnesota Band Directors Association, Belleville (MI) High School, Illinois Music Educators and Lawrence University’s Fred Sturm Jazz Festival. Her big band compositions are currently published by Sierra Music Publications, Doug Beach Music and Kendor Music.
Having been selected to conduct the NAfME All-Eastern and All-Northwest Jazz Ensembles as well as All-State jazz ensembles throughout the country, she has also been an invited clinician at the National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Convention , International Society for Jazz Composition and Arranging Symposium and Jazz Education Network conferences. She is on the Board of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers and also serves as the Coordinator for the JEN Sisters In Jazz Collegiate Combo Competition. Her quintet has performed at the San Jose Jazz Festival, Jazz Education Network Conference, Michigan Jazz Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival and in jazz clubs around the country.
Dr. Joseph L. Jefferson is an award-winning educator that currently serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Ensembles/Applied Jazz Trombone at St. Olaf College. Trained in both classical and jazz traditions, Joseph is a versatile and well-rounded musician that performs as a soloist, and chamber musician in Symphonic, Jazz, and Commercial musical settings both nationally and internationally. Joseph’s honors and awards range across the scholastic and musical spectrum. Recently, Joseph was selected as 1 of 40 music educators throughout the country to be featured in the “Yamaha 40 under 40” Class of 2023. He has also been awarded the 2022 Ellis Marsalis, Jr. Jazz Educator of the Year by the Jazz Education Network.
As a performer, Dr. Jefferson has shared the stage with a variety of groups and artists such as Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Wharton, Sean Jones, Andre Hayward, John Fedchock, The Colour of Music Orchestra, Paducah Symphony, The Irish Tenors, The Cab Calloway Orchestra, Zoltan Kiss (Mnozil Brass), Randy Brecker, Jae Sinnett, Mike Berkowitz, Christopher Bill, and international R&B artists Dwele and Raheem Devaughn among others. As a soloist, Joseph has performed with Marshall University Jazz Ensemble, George Fox University Jazz Ensemble, Mt. Hood Symphonic & Jazz Band, SEMO Wind Symphony, Treasure Valley Wind Symphony, and the Fruitland Wind Ensemble. Dr. Jefferson has been an invited guest artist and presenter at the International Trombone Festival, Jazz Education Network Conference, Darkwater Festival, Washington State Music Educators Association Conference, Louisiana Music Educators Association Conference, Jazz Institute of Chicago, NAfME - Eastern Division Conference, International Horn Symposium, Reno Jazz Festival - University of Nevada, Reno, University of Evansville Brass & Percussion Day, Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, Weber State University, and Mineral Area College. Internationally, Dr. Jefferson has also had performing and teaching residencies in Bermuda and Asia at the College of Music, Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
Prior to arriving at St. Olaf College, Joseph has held faculty positions at Southeast Missouri State University, The University of Portland, and Treasure Valley CC. Dr. Jefferson has earned degrees from Norfolk State (B.M), Shenandoah Conservatory (M.M.), and West Virginia University (D.M.A.) under the tutelage of esteemed faculty; including, Dr. Keith Jackson, Dr. Wayne Wells, Dr. Mike Hall, and Mr. Paul Adams. He has also received instruction from Joseph Alessi, Andre Hayward, Amanda Stewart, Vincent Gardner, and Dr. Natalie Mannix.
Dr. Joseph L. Jefferson maintains his connection with the larger community of musicians and educators through his membership in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Jazz Education Network, International Trombone Association, NAfME (Southwestern Jazz Division Representative), Texas Music Educators Association, National Advisory Board Member - “One City” - VanderCook College of Music (Outreach Program) and the Jazz Content Editor for the Historical Brass Society. Additionally, Dr. Jefferson regularly serves as a clinician/consultant for Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Joseph L. Jefferson is a Yamaha performing artist and plays Yamaha instruments exclusively.
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