Dr. Jeanie Lee

 

(2005 – 2009)

 

Jeanie Lee retired as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Morehead State Univeristy in 2009. She is a graduate of the Ohio State University and received a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. Lee’s previous positions include Principal Trombone of Midland-Odessa Symphony and Big Spring Symphony in Texas as well as Principal Trombone of Anchorage Symphony Orchestra in Alaska.

She has also performed as a member of Lone Star Brass Quintet, Anchorage Symphony Brass Quintet and was a founding member of the Borealis Brass. As a free-lancer, Lee has performed with groups such as After Six Orchestra (Anchorage, AK), the Broadway touring production of Chorus Line, Natalie Cole, Moody Blues, and Manhattan Transfer.

Lee now performs as a regular member of the Horizon Brass Quintet and free-lances throughout Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. Lee is versatile in classical, jazz and commercial styles. She has performed recently with Lexington Philharmonic, Huntington Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra, and the DiMartino/Osland Jazz Orchestra.

 

 

 

Dr. William Mann

 

(2009 – 2013)

 

William Mann joined the faculty at Georgia State University in the fall of 2013, where he is assistant professor of trombone and serves as brass area coordinator. His duties include teaching the trombone studio, coaching brass chamber music, teaching brass techniques and overseeing the brass area. Prior to his appointment at GSU, Dr. Mann taught at Morehead State University, the University of Missouri, Prairie View A&M University and the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor. In addition to college teaching, Dr. Mann taught instrumental music in the Texas Public Schools and served as a private studio teacher for over 12 years.

 

Dr. Mann is regularly sought after as a lecturer, clinician and performer throughout the United States and Brazil, including the Bay View Music Festival in Bay View, MI, and the Festival Nacional de Musica in Goiania, Brazil.

In the summer of 2012, he won second place in the overall solo competition at the International Women’s Brass Conference in Kalamazoo, MI, competing against other brass musicians from around the world.

 

Dr. Mann’s orchestral experiences include performing with groups such as the Lexington Philharmonic, Ohio Valley, West Virginia, Quad-City, Missouri, Tuscaloosa, Meridian, Victoria and Waco Symphonies. He has also performed with the Austin Lyric Opera, as well as the Victoria Bach, Texas Music and Hot Springs Music Festivals, and the 49th Armored Division Band. His jazz experience includes performing with the Di Martino Osland Jazz Orchestra (DOJO) and the Waco Jazz Orchestra, among others.

 

Dr. Mann also enjoys performing in various chamber music settings. He was a founding member of the Austin Brass Ensemble and the LEX4 Trombone Quartet, and has performed with the faculty quintets at Morehead State University, the University of Missouri and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

 

In the fall of 2007, Dr. Mann premiered Trifecta, for solo trombone and brass quartet, by Kenyon Wilson, written for Dr. Mann upon his appointment to the faculty at the University of Missouri. He performed the same work, arranged by the composer for solo trombone and tuba/euphonium ensemble, at the 2008 Southeastern Composers League Forum, with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, under the direction of the composer. Dr. Mann can also be heard on two recordings in the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra: the Grammy-nominated Edmond Dédé – Orchestral Works and Louis Moreau Gottschalk – A Night in the Tropics on the Naxos Label.

 

Dr. Mann received his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in trombone performance from the University of Texas at Austin in addition to a Bachelor of Music Education from Baylor University. His primary teachers include David Gier, David Jackson, Donald Knaub, Allen Barnhill, John Marcellus and Nathaniel Brickens. Additional experiences include studies with Scott Hartmann, Dennis Wick, John Kitzman, James Thompson, Michael Powell, Ronald Barron, Matt Vaughn, Joe Burnam and Jay Evans.

 

 

 

Dr. Nathan Dishman

 

(2013 – 2014)

 

A native of Charles City, Iowa, Nathan Dishman received a Bachelor of Music in education with a jazz emphasis from the University of Northern Iowa.  He was awarded the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance where he was an Ovation Scholarship Recipient.  His document, “A Guide to Daily Maintenance for Trombone,” is a unique resource that integrates technology, daily exercises, and information collected from renowned performers and pedagogues. “A Guide to Daily Maintenance for Trombone” is published by Kagarice Brass Editions. Nathan actively writes audio reviews for the International Trombone Association quarterly journal and is a performing artist for Greg Black Mouthpieces.

Before moving to the east coast, Nathan maintained a busy freelance schedule in the Kansas City area and was active in various orchestral, jazz, recording, and church settings.  He is a former member of the acclaimed Fountain City Brass Band, recently named champions in the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 North American Brass Band Championships.

 

In August of 2009, Nathan was one of six international tenor trombone participants selected by Joseph Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic, to take part in the prestigious Alessi Seminar in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Nathan was also a participant of this bi-annual event in 2007. He has been a finalist in competitions including the Eastern Trombone Workshop Solo Competition, Zellmer-Minnesota Orchestra International Trombone Competition, and the International Trombone Association Van Haney Competition.  Nathan was a winner of the Fort Dodge Symphony Concerto Competition and was a Spotlight Series winner while attending the University of Northern Iowa.

His jazz experience includes performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, and the International Association of Jazz Educators conference.  He has performed on stage backing up artists such as Robin Eubanks, Ray Anderson, Rich Perry, Nicholas Payton, Ernie Andrews, Eric Reed, and Karrin Allyson.

 

Nathan is a former member of the Charlottesville Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Saint Joseph Symphony, Lee’s Summit Symphony, and Liberty Symphony.  Nathan has performed regularly with members of the Kansas City Symphony including the Kansas City Symphony Brass Ensemble.  His primary teachers include JoDee Davis, Roger Oyster, Nancy Vogt, Paul Pollard, Paul McKee, and Bruce Tychinski.

 

 

 

Professor Douglas Yeo

 

(2014 – 2016)

 

Douglas Yeo was born in Monterey, California and grew up in Queens and Valley Stream, New York, where he began playing the trombone at the age of nine. He joined the ASU faculty as Professor of Trombone in 2012 following 27 years as Bass Trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1985-2012) and four years as Bass Trombonist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1981-1985) Prior to his appointment to the Baltimore Symphony, he was a high school band director in Edison, New Jersey, and a free-lance musician in New York City where he played for numerous Broadway shows, symphony orchestras and a four-year tenure with the Goldman Band. A 1976 graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), where he studied with Edward Kleinhammer, and New York University (1979), he was on the faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music from 1985-2012. He has given masterclasses on five continents and frequently travels to give recitals and conduct teaching residencies in such places as the Banff Centre (Canada), the Dutch Bass Trombone Open (Holland) and the Hamamatsu International Wind Instrument Academy and Festival (Japan); his former students hold positions as members of major orchestras and military bands around the world as well as teaching positions at some of the most prestigious universities and conservatories of music. In 2014, Professor Yeo was named the recipient of the International Trombone Association’s 2014 ITA Award, given annually to recognize the “highest level of creative and artistic output.”

 

Professor Yeo’s four best selling trombone solo recordings – Proclamation (with Britain’s Black Dyke Mills Band), Take 1, Cornerstone and Two of a Mind (with British tenor trombonist Nick Hudson and the Williams Fairey Band) – cover a wide range of repertoire and have met with critical acclaim. A leading exponent of historical low brass instruments (serpent, ophicleide, bass sackbut and buccin), Douglas Yeo has also performed with many early music groups including Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, and Philharmonia Baroque. He has been a frequent lecturer on early trombones, serpent, ophicleide and related instruments at museums around the world and his playing may be found on many museum audio guides. In 2002 he released his pioneering recording, Le Monde du Serpent and in 2010, his DVD project, Approaching the Serpent: An Historical and Pedagogical Overview, was released.

 

From 1998-2008 Douglas Yeo served as music director of the New England Brass Band, leading the band to two North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) National Championship titles (2004 and 2006) and conducting five best-selling recordings, all recorded in Boston’s Symphony Hall. The band’s 2007 release, Be Glad Then America, won the North American Brass Band Association’s “Recording of the Year” award. He has been a member of NABBA’s Board of Directors, served a term as Vice-President, and was editor of its Journal, The Brass Band Bridge.

 

Douglas Yeo has been a frequent soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra. He was the first bass trombonist to perform John Williams’ Tuba Concerto on bass trombone (with John Williams conducting), he performed Simon Proctor’s Serpent Concerto (also with John Williams conducting) and has championed Christopher Brubeck’s two Bass Trombone Concertos (conducted by Keith Lockhart and Gerald Steichan) both in concert and on the PBS television show, Evening at Pops.

A prolific writer, Professor Yeo has penned dozens of articles about the trombone, historical brasses and music making for many publications including some of the most prestigious peer-reviewed Journals such as the Galpin Society and Historic Brass Society Journals. His many music editions are published by G. Schirmer, International Music, Southern Music and Sarastro Music. The book, Mastering the Trombone, which he co-authored with Edward Kleinhammer, is published by Ensemble Publications. He is currently writing a comprehensive textbook covering all aspects of the trombone – its history, mechanics, pedagogy, and literature.  He has also recently authored the entries for the serpent and buccin (a 19th century form of trombone with a zoomorphic bell) for the forthcoming new edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. His website, yeodoug.com, was the first website on the Internet devoted to the trombone, and continues to be one of the most influential websites of its kind, with hundreds of thousands of visitors since it was launched in 1996.

A Yamaha International Performing Artist, Douglas Yeo plays the Yamaha YBL-822G bass trombone and the Yamaha Douglas Yeo Signature Series Mouthpiece; he collaborated closely with Yamaha in the design of the equipment he plays.

 

 

 

Dr. Brad Edwards:

 

(2016 – Present)

 

With a style that has been variously described as “passionate,” “fiercely vigorous,” and even “humorous,” Brad Edwards has appeared as a soloist before audiences in the United States and Europe. His solo credits include radio and television broadcasts, premieres of new music, guest recitals at colleges and regional workshops, and concertos with student and professional orchestras and wind ensembles. He has twice been featured as a soloist with “Pershing’s Own” Army Band at the American Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C. As a member of the Air Force Concert Band he was twice featured as a soloist.

 

His CD, “Trombone And…” features concert duets pairing the trombone with other instruments. It includes several works written for and premiered by him as well as one of his own compositions, Five American Folksong Sketches. Of this recording, Audiophile magazine wrote, “Trombonist Brad Edwards is an accomplished musician. The performances are all excellent, and the pairings with other instruments, particularly the marimba are quite interesting.”

 

Dr. Edwards begins teaching trombone at Arizona State University in Fall, 2016. Previously, he taught at the University of South Carolina as well as the University of Northern Iowa. Other teaching positions have included Franklin and Marshall University and Kinhaven Music School.

 

He is best known for his pedagogical books including, Lip Slurs, Lip Slur Melodies as well as the Trombone Craft and Simply Singing for Winds series. He has published a number of pieces through the International Trombone Association Press (available from Warwick Music) including Blue Wolf which has been recorded three times and Four Impromptus for Low Bone Alone, which was selected for the national solo competition of the American Trombone Workshop. More recently, he was commissioned by the state of South Carolina to compose all-state audition solos for all woodwinds and brass on a three-year cycle. He has extended this project into a website, AuditionSolos.com.

 

In addition to the Air Force Band, Dr. Edwards has held positions as Principal Trombonist of the South Carolina Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra Augusta and the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony. He has also been the bass trombonist of the Cedar Rapids Symphony and the Arlington Symphony in Virginia. He has performed with such ensembles as the Baltimore Symphony, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, the brass choir of the National Symphony, Hartford Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony and the Baltimore Opera Orchestra and the Wintergreen and Cabrillo Festival Orchestras.

 

He has shared the stage with such diverse artists as Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Ben Folds, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Olivia Newton John, Wynona Judd, the Gatlin Brothers, Robert Merrill, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Roger Daltry. In 2007, he was selected to be participant at the prestigious Alessi Seminar in New Mexico.

 

Dr. Edwards holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Hartt School of Music. His primary teachers have been Jim Olin, Tony Chipurn, Ronald Borror and Henry Schmidt. He has also studied with Joseph Alessi, Arnold Jacobs, Dave Fedderly and Milt Stevens.