Jazz Academy Faculty
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Sean Carney and the Sean Carney Band
A one-man ambassador for the blues, Columbus, OH native Sean Carney has brought his music to such far flung locales as Switzerland, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Hungary, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. He served three terms as President of The Columbus Blues Alliance, and promotes concerts as the creator of “Blues for a Cure,” an annual blues festival that has donated $19,000 towards cancer research. He plays a mean hollow-bodied guitar, too.
In 2007, Sean and the Sean Carney Band won the International Blues Challenge (IBC), and Carney was awarded the Albert King Best Guitarist Award, presented by The Blues Foundation in front of an audience of 1,700 blues lovers from all over the world.
In his early twenties, Carney’s passion for the Blues extended beyond the stage as he bolstered the scene in his hometown, organizing concerts, writing blues-related articles, co-hosting a radio program called Spontaneous Combustion on WCBE 90.5 FM, and organizing fundraisers for ailing artists.
Drummer Eric Blume is also a Columbus, Ohio native and veteran of the scene. Like Carney, Blume attended The Fort Hayes High School for the Performing Arts, gigged with singer Willie Pooch and recorded and performed frequently with Central Ohio legend Ray Fuller. Blume has been performing with Carney in Columbus venues for over a decade.
2009 festival bookings for The Sean Carney Band include The Bierbeck Blues Festival (Belgium), Charivari Blues Festival (Germany), Bluesnight (France), The Eslov Blues Festival (Sweden) and The Berlin Blues Festival (CT).
Central City Recording – Jon Chinn
Columbus, Ohio based producer Jon Chinn is a 20-year veteran of the music industry, working in almost every facet of the business: studio music production; sound design & original music composition for film, television and web applications; mastering, publishing & licensing; live sound for touring acts; and, acoustic consulting for home studios and businesses. His client list includes Billboard Top 40 artists, chart-topping hip-hop DJs, punk rock legends, and a variety of pop and folk singer/songwriters. Jon has received awards for his own songwriting as well as a "Gold Record" sales award from the Recording Industry Association of America.
Central City Recording – Andrew Dodson
Andrew Dodson is a producer, audio engineer, and co-owner of Central City Recording in Clintonville. He has supplemented over ten years of recording experience with time studying audio production at Ohio University, and earned an honors certificate from the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe. In addition to production, Dodson plays piano and guitar, and is also a vocalist with experience singing in rock bands as well as small and large choral ensembles.
Central City Recording - Maxwell Lewis
Maxwell Lewis is a founder, owner, engineer and producer at Central City Recording. He has worked on projects of all genres from both the engineer and producer’s chair. A graduate of Ohio State University with a major in English, he has teaching experience in both the literary and musical field. His free time is often spent as a multi-instrumentalist and musician for various projects including film and television.
Central City Recording - Ben Miller
Ben Miller is a co-owner, engineer and producer at Central City Recording. His interest in recording began while performing in local bands as early as age twelve, and through a growing awareness of the recording process. Ben studied his trade and honed his skills at the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe in May of 2005. A drummer of 13 years, Miller still plays shows around Columbus with his current band Six Gallery, and is active in other projects including: Dav Julca, Chris McCoy, Dave Shaw, Andrew Ullom, Rushmore and The Deep Sea Divers.
Larry Cook
Larry Cook is one of the most versatile and in-demand bassists and arrangers in the Central Ohio area. Equally adept on acoustic and electric basses, he graduated from Capital University in 2004 with a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Studies, where he studied with such musicians as Lou Fischer, Stan Smith, Mark Morton, and Andy Woodson. He has performed locally with artists as diverse as the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Megan Palmer, Yumbambe, the Hoodoo Soul Band, and Bobby Floyd, as well as sharing the stage with legends such as Mavis Staples, Kirk Whalum, Byron Stripling, Maurice Hines, and Phil Wilson. As a composer/arranger, his work has been frequently commissioned by the Columbus Jazz Orchestra and recorded by songwriters such as Matt Munhall and Molly Winters. He maintains a busy teaching schedule, and is also active in Jazz for Kids, a program dedicated to introducing live music, specifically jazz, to kindergarten through third graders.
Mark Donovan
Mark Donavan is the director of the Jazz Arts Group’s Columbus Youth Jazz Workshop, which he founded in 2004. Donavan is the band director at Wedgewood Middle School, Columbus City Schools, where he has been teaching for 10 years. Also a professional saxophonist and pianist, Mark performs weekly in various local ensembles and bands.
Mark Flugge
Mark Flugge is active in the Central Ohio area as a pianist, composer, educator, and bandleader. He is on the faculty of Capital University and The Ohio State University, and is a former faculty member of the Eastman School of Music. The founder of the Chamber Jazz Series, Flugge's recent concerts on the music of Horace Silver and Bill Evans were included in the Columbus Dispatch's Top 10 Jazz Concerts of the Year. Mark's latest CD "In Love, In Blue" features his arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, which he also performed with the Columbus Symphony.
(more information can be found at www.markflugge.com)
Dennis Hodges
Dennis Hodges teaches guitar full-time in Columbus and performs regularly at churches, clubs and private events. A graduate from Capital University’s Conservatory of Music, Hodges teaches private, group and web-based lessons and assisted in the development of the curriculum for a Rock Band class, which he has taught for the past four years.
Arnett Howard
Since 1985, Arnett Howard has performed more than 5,000 concerts for diverse audiences around the world and at
home in Central Ohio. He began as a professional musician in 1967 and has since dabbled in an array of professional
fields, from nursing to radio and television announcer. Howard has dedicated much of his life to the study and
preservation of music, resulting in a book, Listen For the Jazz: Keynotes in Columbus History, co-authored by Howard.
Widely known for composing the hit NBC "Football Friday Night" promo, Howard has also recorded many full-length
albums, including Arnett Howard’s Creole Funk Band (1987),
Howard’s Rocket ‘88s (1996), I’m a Walkin’,
Talkin’ Pair of Pants (2003), Arnett Howard Christmas (2005) and many others.
Ben Huntoon
Ben Huntoon is the Jazz Education Consultant at Stanton's Sheet Music. As a professional trumpeter, Ben is accomplished in a wide variety of musical genres and is an active freelance musician throughout the Midwest. He teaches trumpet, coaches brass ensembles and is a member of the jazz faculty at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. Ben currently serves on the board of the Ohio Chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education.
Kris Keith
For over a decade, Kris Keith has made a name for himself in the local Columbus, Ohio music scene. His reputation for being a strong woodwind doubler and his ability to perform a variety of musical styles has kept him in high demand as a sideman and session player.
Kris received his B.M. from the Ohio State University in 1994 after serving three years in the U.S. Army, 283rd Army Band, Ft. Benning, Georgia. Since 2000, he has taught jazz flute improvisation at the Ohio State University Summer Flute Workshop with Katherine Borst Jones. In 2008, Kris received a Franklin County Neighborhood Grant for his project, “Music Can Heal: A Latin Orchestra and Dance Experience;” and was recognized as one of Columbus' "Forty under 40" by Business First. Currently, Kris is the Director of the Ohio State University Jazz Lab Ensemble and teaches privately out of his home in Dublin, Ohio.
Since 2000, Kris has been involved with Jazz for Kids, a program designed by Kris and his colleagues to introduce jazz to K-3rd grade students. He performs locally with bands such as Paradise Island Band, the Hoodoo Soul Band, The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Yumbambe Salsa Jazz, Vaughn Wiester’s Famous Jazz Orchestra and Brasileira as well as various Columbus Broadway Series performances. Kris also has extensive experience in the studio recording for television and radio at Circa Music.
His own projects include:
• La Charanga Tres: a ten piece orchestra, celebrating the music of Cuba during the 1920's to the 1960's;
• Trio Classique: flute, violin and cello, performing classical music.
• Minan-Dya: a jazz ensemble featuring Kris' original compositions with a focus on American/Latin jazz; a 2000 CD release titled, "Minan-Dya: Latin Jazz Project"
• Magically Delicious: a project with Tony McClung (drums), Andy Woodson (bass), Michael Cox (reeds) focusing on original compositions and arrangements with an '06 self titled CD release.
Jim Masters
A prominent singer, trombonist, composer and educator, James Masters continues to travel the globe, teaching and performing for diverse audiences. His love of music landed him in the bands of such notable artists as Buddy Rich, Tito Puente, Mel Lewis, Clem DeRosa, Jorge Anders, Roy Gerson and The Widespread Jazz. In Columbus, Masters performs with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Bobby Floyd, and other local ensembles. An alumnus of Youngstown State University, Masters has garnered numerous awards as an "outstanding soloist," including the Wichita and Elmhurst jazz festivals. He was a member of the first Chicago Jazz Ensemble with Bill Russo and considers himself fortunate to have made music, both live and recorded, with so many great musicians. Masters served for 13 years as a lecturer in jazz studies and jazz trombone at The Ohio State University, and as a vocal jazz instructor at Capital University. He created and leads The American Jazz Experience (AJE), an educational program for the Jazz Arts Group. The AJE has "spread the word," performing for over 200,000 students. Masters was honored to be chosen to create and perform two young peoples concerts with the "Jazz Knights" at the prestigous Westpoint Military Academy. He feels blessed to create new music everyday.
Jay Miglia
Jay Miglia is an active member of the Columbus jazz community as a teacher, saxophonist and composer. He currently holds teaching positions at Capital University and Otterbein College, where he serves as Jazz Studies Coordinator, and has taught classes for the Jazz Academy since 2005. Jay regularly appears around the Midwest in clubs and concert settings, as a sideman on recordings, and as a backup musician for an array of jazz and popular music celebrities. He is a long-time member of the Famous Jazz Orchestra and subs often in the Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo Jazz Orchestras. Jay’s music has been performed by colleges and high schools around the Midwest and has recently been recorded by the University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band.
Rebecca Ogden, “The Music Lady”
Rebecca Ogden, “The Music Lady,” is a career music educator with an emphasis in elementary and early childhood music education. Her 30-year public school teaching career focused on general music for grades K-6. During that time she developed curriculum materials for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Young People's Concerts and the “Symphony Search” Saturday morning program for pre-school children and their parents. As owner of Columbus Music Hall and arts presenter, she supported music in the community, including multi-cultural workshops for families and a series of concerts for young children and their families known as PBJ and Cookies Concerts. During the last three years the concerts were called “PBJ & Jazz,” presenting working local jazz groups to young children and their families.
Ogden has taught and developed materials for college courses for both music education majors and future early childhood teachers. She created the “Jazz for Kids” program for young children with local musicians -a program now under the umbrella of Jazz Arts Group, and authored the pre-concert curriculum, “All That Jazz” for upper elementary students who attend the Columbus Jazz Orchestra concert at the Southern Theatre. She is currently developing pre-concert educational materials for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Young People's Concerts for grades K-2, 3-5, and middle school and teaching in several area preschools.
Eric “the FISH” Paton
Eric “the FISH” Paton is a musician, performer, and educator specializing in percussion from the African diaspora and Japan.
Paton grew up in Tokyo, Japan where he attended a Nishigahara Elementary School and the Nishimachi Kokusai Gakko representing thirty-four nationalities. He moved to the United States to attend Capital University and graduated from the Conservatory of Music in 1989. Currently, Paton is an Assistant Professor at Capital University where he has been a member of the faculty since 1990. He has taught percussion, conducted the Concert Percussion Ensemble, Jazz Percussion Ensemble, and founded the Ethnic Percussion Ensemble, a student performance ensemble that features the music of Cuba, Haiti, and Japan. Paton also teaches the World Music Lab, an experiential learning requirement for all incoming music majors that explores the music’s of the world through percussion. Paton continues as music director of Yumbambé Salsa Jazz, music director for Hiuchi Taiko, and performs with Magia Tropical (Brazilian Axe music). Additionally, he has performed with national and international artists like Aretha Franklin, Sir Roland Hannah, Bobby Shew-Salsa Caliente, Milano La Scala (Italian National Opera), and Eitetsu Hayashi.
Paton and his groups have presented for professional conferences and organizations including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Music Education National Conference, International Kodaly Conference, National Association of State Arts Agencies, Remo Inc. Paton is a member of the Ohio Arts Council Arts in Education and GCAC Artists-In-Schools programs. He has worked with recreational drumming as an evidence based protocol for wellness through the JamesCare for Life –Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Ohio Health. Eric Paton plays Remo World Percussion.
Dave Powers
For almost 30 years, Dave Powers has been a vital part of the Columbus music scene as a pianist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Considered one of the most successful musicians in the local spectrum, Dave manages to win over the hearts of all who hear him perform.
Powers has served as musical director for the late tenor saxophonist Rusty Bryant, Gene Walker's Generations, and guitarist Wilbert Longmire. In 1998, Dave played and toured extensively with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. Dave is mentioned in the book, "Listen for the Jazz: Keynotes in Columbus' History" which features musicians who have contributed to the jazz scene in Columbus and nationwide.
Recently, Dave has been featured on the PBS Television Series "The Piano Guy" with host Scott Houston. The show teaches how to have fun playing the piano without having to deal with the formalities of lessons, and the show is seen on over 150 stations around the country.
Dave's performance schedule can be found online at www.davepowers.net.
Bradley Sowash
Bradley Sowash is an accomplished composer, educator, critically acclaimed recording artist, and concert jazz pianist who has delighted listeners of all ages in concert halls and churches throughout the United States and Europe for over two decades. He has appeared frequently as a guest artist on the PBS series, The Piano Guy, and is the co-author of its accompanying book, Play Piano in a Flash: The Next Step. Other publications by Sowash include music education books published by the Neil A. Kjos Music Company including the jazz piano method, That's Jazz and several volumes of jazz hymn arrangements published by Augsburg Fortress Press.
An experienced clinician, Sowash often leads teacher training workshops nationwide and is a frequent guest artist for outreach programs in Ohio schools. He also teaches privately to piano students ranging from ages 9S to 70 and is the director the Jazz Workshop, a community-based organization that meets weekly to provide student jazz combos with professional coaching. Last year, he was a part-time lecturer at the Ohio State University Department of Dance, where he taught a course titled "Music Skills."
Todd Stoll
Todd Stoll has been a leading advocate in jazz education for more than 20 years. As a performer, bandleader, educator and archivist he has dedicated his career to expanding the awareness of jazz for students and the general public alike. Currently, Stoll hold the position of High School Music Curriculum Coordinator for Westerville City Schools and teaches both instrumental and vocal jazz ensembles. He is a past President of the Ohio IAJE and served as the first OMEA Jazz Events Coordinator. His ensembles have garnered numerous awards at festivals and competitions throughout the US and he holds the distinction of being the only director to have two separate bands selected as finalists for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Essentially Ellington Competition. As founder and leader of the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra (CYJO), Stoll has led the ensemble on several International tours in both Europe and South America, self-produced 6 CDs, and collaborated with many renowned jazz artists including, among others, Clark Terry, John Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Wess Warmdaddy Anderson, John Fedchock, Sean Jones, Wycliffe Gordan, Joe Henderson, Barry Harris, Wynton Marsalis and CJO Artistic Director Byron Stripling. He is a contributing editor to “Teaching Music through Performance in Jazz” published by GIA. His personal library of scores and music includes one of the largest collections of Duke Ellington literature in the Midwest.
Gene Walker
Saxophonist Gene Walker, a native and resident of Columbus, Ohio, has toured since 1958 with some of the world's greatest entertainers including The Beatles, King Curtis, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cook, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Jimmy McGriff, The Drifters, ChrisColumbo and The Platters. Mr. Walker continues to perform with his own bands Gene Walker's Generations Band and Gene Walker's Cotton Club Orchestra. He also enjoys an impressive solo career.
Walker received a Bachelor of Music Arts degree from The Ohio State University in 1988. The following year he accepted a teaching position at OSU instructing jazz saxophone and combo classes. He participates with the OSU Jazz Ensemble camp each summer teaching jazz history and saxophone. It is Mr. Walker's great pleasure to bring the jazz tradition into schools through the American Jazz Experience with Jim Masters, and the Jazz Professors Performing Septet. He has served in artist residencies with the Ohio Arts Council and the Greater Columbus Arts Council and continues to instruct jazz saxophone and combo during the summer at the prestigious Jamey Aebersold Jazz camps.
Kie Watkins
Kie Watkins is the Director of the Columbus Youth Jazz Studio Ensemble, part of JAG’s Youth Jazz Program. Watkins received his Bachelors degree in Music Education and Masters in Educational Leadership from the Ohio State University (1994, 2003). He is currently completing his PhD in Music Education. Watkins is an international endorsing artist for Conn-Selmer and plays exclusively on their instruments. He also performs regionally with a variety of ensembles and is in the proofreading stages of completing his method book for wind bands.
Vaughn Wiester
Vaughn Wiester's performance experience began in high school under the tutelage of Robert H. Bechtel. While in high school, he played and arranged for the Riley Norris Band. After a hitch as a navy trombonist, Vaughn Wiester came to Columbus in 1968 to attendOhio State University and to join the Dave Workman Blues Band.
In 1972 he became a member of the Jazz Arts Group led by Ray Eubanks. Wiester was invited to join the Woody Herman orchestra in 1974. After two years on the road with Herman, Vaughn returned to Columbus to accept a position at the Dave Wheeler Contemporary Music Workshop and to resume his activities with the Jazz Arts Group as a bass trombonist and arranger. In 1977, Wiester was invited to join the faculty at Capital University as part of their pioneering Jazz Studies degree program. Throughout this 17-year association, he taught courses in jazz arranging and jazz history aid directed the prize-winning Big Band Sound Big Band.
In 1980 Wiester joind the Terry Waldo Ragtime Orchestra. Wiester's arrangements can be heard on recordings by Woody Herman, Waldo's Ragtime Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the Keith Henson Octet. Wiester’s current activities include his 21-piece Famous Jazz Orchestra, appearing weekly at the Columbus Mannerchor.