2025 Clinicians will be listed soon.
2024 Clinicians
Saxophonist Mary Fettig has recorded and toured with such greats as Stan Kenton, Marian McPartland, Tito Puente, Flora Purim and Airto, playing jazz festivals including Concord, Monterey, Playboy, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Montreaux, and North Sea. She regularly plays celebrity shows, and has extensive studio credits in film, television, video games and radio. In San Francisco she has played 25 different Broadway shows in the pit orchestras as a woodwind doubler, with the record-breaking 5 year run of Phantom of the Opera as her longest run. Mary regularly performs with the San Francisco Symphony.
Mary’s own recordings include “In Good Company”, “Relativity”, and “Brazilian Footprints”.
Mary has been an adjunct teacher at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Los Medanos College, Diablo Valley College and St. Mary’s College, though now retired from classroom teaching.
The Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon for 34 years, Professor Emeritus of Music, Steve Owen, is an internationally known composer, arranger, saxophonist, and educator. Steve’s music has been performed and recorded by college and professional ensembles world-wide including recordings by the Frankfurt Radio Big Band (HR Big Band), Taipei Jazz Orchestra, Eastman Jazz Ensemble, Miami Studio Jazz Orchestra, University of North Texas One O’Clock Jazz Band, and the University of Oregon’s Oregon Jazz Ensemble. As a featured soloist, Steve has performed at festivals nationwide with jazz’s finest musicians including Dick Hyman, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, and Randy Brecker.
PIANIST/COMPOSER James Miley has taught at Willamette University since 2009, where he presently serves as coordinator of the Jazz and Improvised Music program, directs the Ford Hall Digital Music Lab and Recording Studios, and teaches courses in composition, improvisation, music theory & history, and music/sound for visual media. He is a founding member (along with composer/arrangers Patty Darling and the late Fred Sturm) of the Radiohead Jazz Project, and his music for jazz big band has been performed internationally, as well as by many of the top high school and university big bands throughout the United States. As an improvising pianist, Miley can be heard with the jazz chamber group Bug (featuring saxophonist Peter Epstein), the Hashem Assadullahi Sextet with Ron Miles, and Dan Cavanagh’s Jazz Emporium Big Band, all on Origin Records. His most recent recordings include the free improvisation collective Trio Untold, featuring Mike Nord (guitar/electronics) and Ryan Biesack (drums/percussion), available on PJCE Records, and an album of original music with pianist Dan Cavanagh and Grammy-nominated drummer/composer John Hollenbeck, released in November, 2022, on S/N Alliance out of Tokyo, Japan. He holds degrees in Music from Occidental College, the University of Arizona, and the University of Oregon, with additional coursework in jazz studies and composition at CalArts and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Cynthia Plank lives in Gresham, Oregon, and has been teaching band at Beaumont Middle School for 20 years. Upon completion of her Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Teacher Certification at the University of Oregon, Ms. Plank went on to earn a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting at the American Band College, through Sam Houston State University. She received the Mary V. Dodge Award for Outstanding School Music Teacher for 2011-2012, has been nominated three times for the Music Educator Grammy Award, and was a quarter-finalist in 2015. During her time at Beaumont, the bands have received over 100 awards for outstanding performances in jazz, concert band and marching band events.Mrs. Plank is also the founder of the Portland Community Wind Band (2005), and conducted the ensemble for six years. She performs regularly in the Portland area as a vocalist, bassist and flutist with the Second Wind Jazz group. She serves on the board of directors for the Oregon Symphonic Band and the Portland Jazz Festival, known as PDX Jazz.. Ms. Plank is published in the series Teaching Music Through Performance- in Jazz, Volume II, and was selected as one of School Band and Orchestra Magazine’s 50 Directors Who Make a Difference 2016. When she is not in the classroom, at the gym or on stage, Ms. Plank enjoys gardening, traveling with her husband Corey, and posting cat videos on Facebook.
Jason Palmer is a drummer, percussionist, composer, and educator living in Portland, Oregon. He is nationally active in drum set performance, with appearances at St. Peter’s Church and the Knitting Factory in New York, the Rochester Jazz Festival, the High Sierra Music Festival, the Gene Harris Jazz Festival, and the Calgary Jazz Festival. Also, Jason acts as Department Chair of Music at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus.
Jason attended the University of Oregon, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance and Jazz Studies (Magna Cum Laude), as well as a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies. Regionally, he has performed as a drummer at The Waterfront Blues Festival, the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, the Portland Jazz Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Oregon Festival of American Music. His performance and recording experience include work with such artists as Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, John Clayton, Ben Monder, Bobby Shew, Ron Miles, Dick Oatts, Dave Frishberg, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Zorn, Steve Wilson, Dick Hyman, Ken Peplowski, and Chuck Redd. Additionally, in 2011, Jason began his tenure as the drummer with the American Metropole Orchestra.
Upon moving to Portland, OR in 2011, Jason began playing regularly with many noted Portland jazz artists, including Randy Porter, George Colligan, Darrell Grant, John Gross, and Dan Balmer. Jason’s recorded work includes releases on Origin Records (Toby Koenigsberg Trio and Jim Olsen), Space Age Bachelor Pad (The Daddies), and Crescent Records (Don Latarksi and Rue De Blues). His recordings have been reviewed in Cadence, All About Jazz, and the All Music Guide. In 2015, Jason was nominated for a Grammy Award ” in the children’s music category for his performance on the Lori Henriques album “How Great Can This Day Be”.
Sarah Owen is a jazz trumpet player and music educator residing in Bend, Oregon. Sarah directs the Big Band Jazz at Central Oregon Community College and is active in the Central Oregon music education community. She regularly presents at state conferences and is a frequent adjudicator at jazz festivals throughout the Northwest. She is currently completing her Ed.D. in Educational Policy, Organization, and Leadership with an emphasis in Learning Design and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sarah lives in Bend with her husband, Brian, two sons, Conor (5) and Cyrus (3), and dog, Spealler.
Sarah grew up in the Seattle area and attended the University of Washington. She earned degrees in Jazz Studies and Music Education. While at the UW, Sarah studied jazz trumpet with Vern Sielert and classical trumpet with Alan Vizutti. She was active in the Seattle jazz scene during college and played regularly with the Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra and the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra.
Sarah moved to Los Angeles to pursue both teaching and performing in 2008. As a trumpet player, she worked on several television shows including “American Idol,” “NBC’s The Voice,” “Glee,” “Noches con Platanito,” and performed with Gloria Estefan at the 2011 Alma Awards. Sarah also played with Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi for her 2014 tour to Monterrey, Mexico. Sarah played in several jazz groups in Southern California including Ann Patterson’s Maiden Voyage, the Oscars Governor’s Ball Orchestra in 2010, the San Dimas Jazz Workshop, and Skip Spiro’s Little Big Band. Sarah also played brass and recorded with the LA band, One Silver Astronaut, and was a regular member of the Belle Air Brass.
Sarah taught middle school band for nine years at Ramona Middle School in La Verne, CA. While at Ramona, she founded the Bonita Jazz Workshop, a summer program for learning jazz and improvisation. She also founded the Bonita Jazz Festival, an educational jazz festival for school jazz bands in Southern California. As director of the festival, Sarah was fortunate to get guest artists such as Doc Severinsen to perform.
Sarah served as the webmaster and newsletter editor for the California Alliance for Jazz and was active in the California Music Educators Association and the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association. She was a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops throughout Southern California. Her presentations and workshops focused on the implementation of instructional technology in performing arts classrooms. Sarah earned her master’s degree in music education from California State University, Long Beach in 2015.
Originally from Dexter, Oregon, SteepleChase recording artist Joe Manis is noted for the strength of his “intense, updated take on the glorious Rollins-‘Trane tradition.” (Willamette Week) Manis was the recipient of a 2013 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. His album for SteepleChase Records, The Golden Mean, features George Colligan on organ, Kevin Congleton on drums, and Lillie Manis on viola and was released in 2015. North By Northwest was released by SteepleChase Records in 2013.
He released his debut album Evidence in 2009 features Manis on tenor saxophone, Kevin Congleton on drums, and Portland luminary Dave Captein on bass: the Willamette Week called the album “explosive,” and said “(Manis) makes Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ sound like something a young John Coltrane might have played”; the Eugene Weekly said: “Fabulous… Will thrill fans of Monk, Rollins.”
The Joe Manis Trio was featured at Rontoms during the 2010 PDX Jazz Festival, a high-energy performance that was a featured Willamette Week “Pick” and received praise from local music critics and bloggers; the Trio returned to the Festival in 2011, 2013 and 2020. Recent Joe Manis Trio appearances include Fat Cat NYC, the Shedd Institute’s jazz series, Jimmy Mak’s, Tula’s, the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, and the Montavilla Jazz Festival.
Manis has toured Europe as a duo and in a trio with David Friesen, where they recorded Structures, a live album. He currently plays with Friesen’s Trio. He also appears on Risky Notion (Four stars & Best Albums of 2015, DownBeat Magazine) on Origin Records with George Colligan’s Theoretical Planets. Manis has played with Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, including a performance at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and appears on their album Rise Up! on Real World Records. He has also performed with the George Colligan Quartet, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the Ken Schaphorst Big Band, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Johnny Mathis, the Temptations, comedian Bob Newhart, Wayne Newton, the Oregon Symphony with Gladys Knight, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Portland Opera, the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, and the Eugene Opera. Manis has performed on NPR’s Jazz Night In America, hosted by Christian McBride.
Manis has presented jazz masterclasses across the country, including at University of Nevada, Reno, California State University, Northridge, Whitman College, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Oregon, Ferris State University, Central Washington University, Willamette University, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, Oregon State University, Western Oregon University, Pacific University, Lower Columbia College and Mesa, Glendale, Portland, Spokane Falls, Mt. Hood, Clackamas and Lane Community Colleges. He received a Master of Music in Jazz Studies-Performance with Academic Honor from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon. Additional studies were at the Eastman School of Music. He is a current faculty member at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College and a former music faculty member at Portland State University and Umpqua Community College. Manis is the Director of the Oregon Jazz Workshop in Eugene. His article “Rhythmic Analysis: Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts – ‘Housed From Edward'” was published in the March 2012 edition of JAZZed Magazine. Manis also has written for the Jazz Society of Oregon’s Jazzscene. He is married to violinist/violist/educator Lillie Manis, with whom he has a son, Ellery.
Nathan Poehlke is an award winning composer, guitarist, and educator in Eugene, Oregon.
As a writer, Nathan was the JEN 2020 YCS winner for his composition “Feeling Sleepy,” performed by the U.S. Navy Commodores. Other compositions have been featured by the Oregon Jazz Ensemble and Eastman New Jazz Ensemble. Nathan is currently an Assistant Professor at Bushnell University acting as the Bushnell Jazz Ensemble director and instructor for Music Theory, Aural Skills, Counterpoint, Producing and Arranging, and studio lessons.
Nathan Poehlke completed his MM at the University of Oregon in 2020 studying guitar under Mike Denny and composition under Steve Owen.
Olem Alves began playing guitar at around age nine. After studying blues with James Thornbury (a Eugene blues guitarist/vocalist who later joined and became front man of the famous blues band Canned Heat) for a year at age ten, he played his first live performance at a local Eugene restaurant and was hooked. He continued to take guitar lessons throughout his younger years and was a regular at Rooster’s blues jam in Eugene honing his guitar skills weekly with local blues legends.
As Olem began to grow musically he started studying jazz at the University of Oregon. After a few years of jazz training he became a regular fixture at the old Jo Federigo’s Jazz Jam (named one of the top 10 jazz clubs in the U.S.) and performed regularly with the house band where one night they played an entire set with famed trumpeter Roy Hargrove who happened to drop by after a gig with Herbie Hancock he had in town. He soon formed his own blues/funk group, the Olem Alves Band (later named Inner Limits) making its debut in 1996 on the main stage at the Oregon Country Fair. They put out their first Album entitled “Make It Right” in 2001 and continued performing at local and regional festivals such as The Willamette Valley Folk Festival, Art and the Vineyard, Tayberry Jam, Corvallis Fall Festival, Black Sheep festival, again on the Oregon Country Fair main stage in 2011 and other festivals.
Olem has performed at many clubs and music venues such as the old Wild Duck Music Hall in Eugene, the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, the McDonald Theatre in Eugene (opening for Maceo Parker and releasing a live album from this concert), Sam Bonds Garage, the Jazz Station (where in 2013 he was asked to be in the house band which performed a night of music with Louis Bonilla, the famed NY trombonist). Craving more jazz training, in 2011 he entered graduate school at the University of Oregon School of Music. In 2012, while at the U of O and a member of the Oregon Jazz Ensemble, Olem performed with Saxophonist Seamus Blake and NY trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.
In 2013 he received his Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon and just recently released his first straight ahead jazz album entitled “Standards” with bassist Tyler Abbott (instructor of bass at the University of Oregon and Willamette University) and drummer Ryan Biesack (drum instructor at Oregon State University and Willamette University). Olem is currently on faculty at Lane Community College and Linn-Benton Community College as a guitar instructor and continues to perform both locally and regionally as a solo performer and with groups both big and small.
He resides in Eugene with his wife, 3 children and 1 fat cat. In addition to performing as a solo guitarist or with various groups, Olem’s biggest joy is playing music with his kids.