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Danny Jordan - President Danny Jordan is the Coordinator of Jazz and the Coordinator of Music Theory for the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at Oakland University. He directs the OU Jazz Band, the Oakland Jazz Singers, the Oakland Jazz Improv Singers, and has performed twice in Varner Recital Hall for the Professional Artist Series. Jordan became a full-time OU faculty member and music professor in 2002 after beginning as Lecturer in 1996 and then later Special Lecturer. A graduate of Wayne State University, he holds a Master of Music degree with Highest Distinction. The OU IAJE student chapter, for which he is the faculty advisor, provides outreach to the community while OU ensemble members have traveled to national music conferences. Jordan is the pianist of the Michigan IAJE Reading Band, which performs and presents regularly at statewide music special events, notably the 2007 Detroit International Jazz Festival and the 2007 Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids. He also serves as adjudicator at many jazz festivals and competitions. Jordan's career stage highlights include performing and recording (Lake Tahoe, NV; California), and tours with his pop/jazz group The Loving Cup. He also leads the Danny Jordan Jazz Ensemble and is in demand as a pianist and arranger for recording studios in the Detroit area, having also worked for Jobete Music during the heydays of the Motown Records era. Contact: Danny
Jordan
Department of Music, Theatre & Dance, Oakland University Coordinator of Theory Coordinator of Jazz Director of Jazz Ensembles 302 Varner Hall Rochester, MI 48309-4401 Ph: (248) 370-2871 E-mail: d2jordan@oakland.edu |
Bill Sears - President-Elect  Since 1987 Bill Sears has served as the director of jazz studies at the famed Interlochen Arts Academy, nestled in the cozy confines of northwest lower Michigan outside Traverse City. During this time the jazz program has expanded to include two levels of jazz improvisation, a daily jazz history class and one combo in addition to the award winning 17-piece jazz ensemble. The department is recognized as one of the top jazz programs in the country. It has been honored as the recipient of 11 “DB” awards from Downbeat magazine during the previous 15 years and the jazz ensemble has twice been named a finalist at the “Essentially Ellington” competition at Lincoln Center (1998, 2003). A saxophonist, Sears came to Interlochen from the Chicago area where he led an active career as a freelance musician and teacher at the American Conservatory of Music. He has toured the U.S. and Europe with the Ray Charles band (1986) and shared the stage with, among other, jazz luminaries Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams, Art Farmer, Geoff Keezer, Rick Margitza and saxophonist Bill Evans. An active performer, Sears has two recent recordings, “Chasin’ The Goal” with fellow tenor great Rick Margitza, and “With One Accord”, his latest CD with his current 7 piece group, the Arts Center Jazz Collective. Each of these CD’s features not only his engaging saxophone style but also several of his compositions. Having great respect for the heritage of the tenor saxophone, Sears' playing encompasses the entire spectrum of this tradition from lush ballads reminiscent of the great swing and bebop masters to the searing intensity of today’s music. Sears is a performing artist/clinician for the Selmer Corporation of Elkhart, IN. Contact: Bill
Sears
Interlochen Arts Academy Conductor of Jazz Ensembles and Instructor of Jazz Saxophone, Jazz Studies Department P.O. Box 199 Interlochen, MI 49643 Ph: (231) 276-7200, 276-7894 E-mail: searswa@interlochen.org |
Bob Nixon - Vice President  Bob
Nixon is a music educator in the Grand Rapids Public School System
(Riverside Middle School) and at Aquinas College, while remaining an
active adjudicator for MSBOA. His career has
spanned 25 years as an educator, performer, and clinician in West
Michigan. Nixon received his Bachelor of
Music Education and
Jazz
Studies/Woodwind Performance degrees, and Master of Music degree from
Morehead
State University (Morehead, KY). Nixon has taught music education
at the
Cincinnati Public Schools, Grand Rapids Public Schools, and Aquinas
College
(Grand Rapids). His career performance credits includes stage
time with
The Henry Mancini Orchestra, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Lou Rawls,
Johnny
Mathis, Bobby Vinton, The Temptations, The Bee Gees, Bob Hope, and
Mickey
Rooney. In addition, Nixon continues to work as a freelance
musician, contracting
and
leading orchestras for major shows in the Grand Rapids area. Contact: |
Kevin Dobreff - Treasurer  Kevin Dobreff, Performing Arts Department Head, has been with Grand Rapids Community College since 1991. He is a graduate of Bowling Green State University where he received a music education degree in 1978. Dobreff pursued graduate studies in Choral Conducting and Literature at Marshall University where he was subsequently hired as a faculty member. After leaving Marshall, Kevin taught at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa. He came to Michigan in 1989 to complete his doctoral studies at Michigan State University in Choral Conducting and Literature. After leaving Michigan State, Kevin was hired by Grand Rapids Community College where he teaches Music Theory, Aural Comprehension, Music History, Applied Voice and conducts the Madrigal Singers. Contact: Kevin
Dobreff
|
Scott Cowan - Secretary
Western
Michigan University Contact: Scott Cowan
School of Music, Western Michigan University 1903 West Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5434 Ph: (269) 387-3904 E-mail: scott.cowan@wmich.edu |
