University of Portland 59th Annual Festival of Jazz
University of Portland Chiles Center
The University of Portland Jazz Festival showcases outstanding student musicians, guest artists, and clinicians from around the country, all contributing to a vibrant celebration of jazz performance and education on our campus. Since its inception, the UP Jazz Festival has become a premier student jazz event in the Pacific Northwest. We support a mission of excellent teaching and individual attention in an environment that fosters development of the whole person, and our goal is to ensure that every participant leaves the festival inspired, with a greater appreciation for the art of jazz.
Performance Schedule Performances in Chiles Center
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Time Ensemble Director
9:00am West Sylvan Middle School Jazz Band Denley Arce
9:30 Conestoga Middle School Big Band Jeremy Kane
10:00 Cedar Park Jazz Band Jenn Stone
10:30 Mountain View Middle School Jazz Band Heidi Fraser
11:00 Meadow Park Middle School Jazz Ambassadors Michael Schlabach
11:30 La Center High School Jazz Band James Cameron
12:15pm UP Jazz Combo
12:30 UP Jazz Ensemble featuring Christopher McBride
1:30 Christopher McBride Master Class
3:00 ISB Middle School Jazz Band Evan MacWilliams
3:30 Whitford Middle School Jazz Band Jesse Natividad
4:00 Robert Eagle Staff Middle School I Patrick Gordon
4:30 ISB High School Jazz Ensemble Evan MacWilliams
5:00 Catlin Gabel Jazz Ensemble Alex Juarez
5:30 Roosevelt HS Jazz II Jason Margolis
University of Portland 59th Annual Festival of Jazz
Saxophones
University of Portland Jazz Ensemble
Directed by Don Norton
Alejandro Santana (Vancouver, WA)
Tina Pham (Beaverton, OR)
Cesar Rivera (Hilo, HI)
Daniel Leon (Vancouver, WA)
Emma Hayes (Portland, OR)
Emma Kirwan (Sacramento, CA)
Trumpets
Mekhi Morlin (Winlock, WA)
Sydney Liao (Scappoose, OR)
Luke Smith (Redmond, OR)
Corbin Madson (Gladstone, OR)
Braulio Ramirez (Molalla, OR)
Trombones
Palmer Rakes (Coeur D’Alene, ID)
Juan Diego Contreras (The Dalles, OR)
Ash Webber (Gresham, OR)
Giovanni Davila (Las Vegas, NV)
Rhythm Section
Sam Staver – piano (Portland, OR)
Palmer Rakes – bass (Coeur D’Alene, ID)
Larry Wiggins* – bass (Portland, OR)
Michael Hauger – drums (Spokane, WA)
Vocals
Gabriela Mootz (Kirkland, WA)
Keara Lowe (Redding, CA)
University of Portland Jazz Combo
Directed by Dr. Don Norton
Thomas Bell (Berkley, CA) – trumpet
Alejandro Santana (Vancouver, WA) – alto saxophone
Daniel Leon (Vancouver, WA) – tenor saxophone
Matthew Bensurto (San Francisco, CA) – baritone saxophone
Luke Gunnels (Bend, OR) – guitar
Sam Staver (Portland, OR) – piano
Palmer Rakes (Coeur D’Alene, ID) – bass
Michael Hauger (Spokane, WA) – drums
University of Portland 59th Annual Festival of Jazz
Repertoire
UP Jazz Combo repertoire to be announced from the stage
UP Jazz Ensemble repertoire to be selected from the following:
Apple Honey..............................................................................................................Woody Herman arr. Rick Stitzel
Witchcraft....................................................................................Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh arr. Roger Holmes
Cyclops..........................................................................................................................Oliver Nelson
Lover Man................................................Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and James Sherman arr. Bill Holman
Jeep’s Blues...........................................................................Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington
I Thought About You...................................................Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer arr. Mark Taylor
Morning Story.................................................................................................................Tom Garling
2025 Guest Artist: Christopher McBride
Saxophonist Christopher McBride is based in New York City. His work includes education, arranging and composition in addition to performance. He has been slowly but steadily turning heads with his ubiquitous work as an invaluable sideman since the mid-2000’s. Now Christopher is gaining respect amongst fans, critics, and his peers as one of the most versatile saxophonists in the world. His 2012 debut album Quatuor de Force certainly establishes his ability to front a group and write his own soulful, melodically indelible tunes. Applauded for his ability to play in all musical situations, McBride has the ability to unleash a fiery attack and serrated tone, but on his first album he explores a more measured, mellow sound heavily influenced by contemporary R&B—with a strong shot of Cannonball Adderley’s post-bop sensuality—but his improvising is very rigorous and cogent. As a composer, McBride was selected as the 2022 Make Jazz Fellowship artist at he 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California.
Born in Chicago, and starting his professional career there in 2007, Christopher made the move to NYC in 2013. His group, The Whole Proof, has played venues all over New York. Christopher ran his ‘Singer Meets Saxophonist’ series at the famed Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem from 2017-2019. The musicians he has performed with over the years span many genres, sharing the stage with Billy Preston, Percy Gray, Roy Hargrove, Pete Rock, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Guy Sebastian, Solange, Ne-Yo, Jennifer Hudson, Alice Smith, Brandon Flowers, Lea DeLaria, 88 Keys, Milton Mustafa, Winard Harper, and Marquis Hill’s Blacktet.
As a recording artist, McBride’s February 2023 release Ramon made the Top 25 on the JazzWeek Charts and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks as well as making the JazzWeek Top 100 albums for 2023. The sophomore release has received critical acclaim. All About Jazz called the album “a sonic marvel that showcases a robust grasp of bebop and contemporary jazz idioms.” As a performing artist he has received a Grammy certificate for his work as a collaborator/soloist on Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson’s 2022 album Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra.
As an educator, McBride has served as the Director of Education for the Second Line Arts Collective, a non-for-profit organization based out of New Orleans. His primary duties included writing curriculum for the Little Stompers division and teacher development. He also teaches for Jazz at Lincoln Center regularly, as well as touring nationally with various educational programs.
As a journalist and consultant, McBride has worked with Forbes Ignite, the innovation coalition of Forbes.
University of Portland
2025 Festival Clinicians
Susie Jones is a jazz educator, retired from Mt. Hood Community College. Under her direction, the MHCC Jazz Band performed at the IAJE convention in New York in 2007, received an IAJE award for “top ten campus CDs,” and has toured Taiwan six times on government-sponsored tours. Susie served as the Jazz Chair for the Oregon Music Educators Association for eight years, is past president of the Oregon Unit of International Association for Jazz Education and is president of the Board of Directors for the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, producing that festival in 2008, 2009, 2013, and 2014. Susie directed the Community College All-Star Band at the IAJE convention in Toronto in 2008 and contributed a chapter in the book Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz, GIA Publications. Prior to her appointment at Mt. Hood Community College, she taught for nine years in the North Clackamas School District and eight years in the David Douglas School District. Susie also served on the Board of Directors at Mt. Hood Community College and Multnomah Education Service District.
Cassio Vianna is a pianist, arranger, producer, music educator, and an award-winning composer whose work reflects a broad range of musical and cultural influences. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Vianna is currently the Director of Jazz Studies, Associate Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA.
After engaging in many recording and performing projects in the vibrant Rio de Janeiro music scene, Dr. Vianna moved to the U.S. in 2009 to further his music studies and career. Dr. Vianna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Uni-Rio), a Master of Music degree from Western Oregon University, and a Doctor of Arts degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Northern Colorado, where he studied with David Caffey.
As a very active composer, Dr. Vianna has been commissioned to write pieces in a wide variety of styles, from solo piano to classical chamber pieces, from popular songs to large jazz ensemble charts. His compositions have received awards from the National Band Association, Ithaca College Jazz Composition Competition, Jazz Education Network, and the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC). His jazz big band charts have been performed by artists such as Eric Marienthal, Chris Potter, Ernie Watts, Martha Reeves (Martha & the Vandellas), and the United States Army Field Band (Jazz Ambassadors), among others. His recent albums include Letters to Grace: A Song Cycle (Cassio Vianna, 2011), Infância (Cassio Vianna Jazz Orchestra, 2017), and Vida (Cassio Vianna Jazz Orchestra, 2025). Vida features special guest Eric Marienthal and a stellar group of musicians from the Pacific Northwest.
Over the past 15 years, Dr. Vianna has been featured as an adjudicator, performer, and clinician at jazz festivals and conferences in Latin America and across the U.S. In 2015, he traveled to China to perform and to teach a two-week program at the Guangxi Arts Institute (Nanning Province). He has presented clinics and lectures at several Jazz Education Network Annual Conferences, at the Midwest Clinic, International Composers' Symposium, NAfME Northwest Conference, and at the Washington Music Educators Association Conference.
University of Portland 59th Annual Festival of Jazz
Full-Time Music Faculty
Dr. Patrick Murphy, Chair, Performing & Fine Arts, Music Program Director, Associate Professor of Music, Director of Bands
Dr. David De Lyser, Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities
Dr. Nicole Leupp Hanig, Associate Professor of Music, Director of Vocal Studies
Dr. Don Norton, Associate Professor of Music, Director of Jazz Studies
Dr. Rebekah Hanson, Assistant Professor of Music, Director of Orchestral Studies
Susan McDaniel, Lecturer of Music, Collaborative Piano
Jeffrey Ashton, guitar
Bill Athens, jazz bass
Joe Bagg, jazz bass
Dr. Julia Banzi, world music
Heather Blackburn, Cello
Hannah Brewer, organ
Nicole Buetti, bassoon
JáTtik Clark, tuba
Julie Cross, voice
Megan Elliott, Bel Canto
Angelika Furtwangler, viola
Adjunct Music Faculty
Brian Gardiner, percussion
Jeff Garza, horn
John Haek, piano
Alan Juza, oboe
Joe Klause, trumpet
Hal Logan, music technology
Dr. Sarah Maines, voice
Ryan Meagher, jazz guitar
Daniel Mobbs, voice
Elizabeth Peyton, violin
Michael Prendergast, sacred music
Special Thanks To:
Rachel Rencher, flute
Jason Schooler, bass
Dr. Igor Shakhman, clarinet
Lisa Stoneham, trombone
Tyson Stubelek, jazz drums
Matthew Tutsky, harp
Dr. Jennifer Wanner, music theory and aural skills
Peary Webster, chamber music
Jeongmi Yoon, piano
Emily Hogan, Marketing Director, Academic Coordinator for PFA
Mekhi Morlin, Jazz Ensemble Manager
Joe Kaleel and University Events
Linda Gill and Printing Services
UP Media Services
UP Athletics
Bon Appetit
Beacock Music
All Student Volunteers
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge the land on which we sit and occupy at the University of Portland. "The Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River creating communities and summer encampments to harvest and use the plentiful natural resources of the area" (PILR, 2018). We take this opportunity to thank the original caretakers of this land.
