Trained in both the classical and jazz repertoires, trombonist and Edwards performing artist Lars Campbell performs with the Oregon Symphony and Oregon Ballet Theater orchestras as well as plays many of the national touring Broadway shows that pass through Portland. He is a co-founder of the Rose City Brass Quintet and Portland Jazz Orchestra and remains a sought-after clinician in brass pedagogy. His conducting has taken him to premiere Darrell Grant’s chamber jazz opera Sanctuaries in 2021 with Third Angle New Music, as well as conducting other stage works. In the collegiate setting, he is the director of Instrumental Music at Clackamas Community College, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and directs the Jazz Ensemble.

His discography includes appearances on Rose City Brass Quintet’s Disquiet, Storm Large’s Le Bonheur, Pink Martini’s Hang on Little Tomato, and Portland Jazz Orchestra’s Good Morning, Geek. His compositions have been played by orchestras, wind bands, and small ensembles across the country and are published by Rose City Brass Publishing.

Susie Jones is a jazz educator recently 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 8 years, is past president of the Oregon Unit of International Association for Jazz Education, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, producing that festival in 2008, 2009, 2013, and 2014. Susie directed the Communit 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 9 years in the North Clackamas School District and 8 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.

Paul Krueger is a music educator, trumpeter and composer/arranger currently residing in Eugene, OR. He is an Instructor of Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon, where he has taught jazz history, improvisation, arranging, jazz pedagogy, jazz trumpet lessons, and large jazz ensembles. He also directs JazzArts Oregon, the first of eleven small groups at UO. In addition to his teaching duties, Krueger also serves as the Director of the UO Summer Jazz Improvisation Camp, and co-director of the Oregon Jazz Festival as well as the Day of Improvisation, an annual one-day workshop for high school students which is free to all participants.

A versatile trumpeter and exciting improviser, Krueger has also published numerous works as a composer/arranger. As a student, he was recognized in Downbeat Magazine and named a three-time winner in the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards. His works for large jazz ensemble have been performed internationally by such artists as Steve Wilson, Kendrick Scott, and Eric Alexander.

He has previously served as applied trumpet instructor at Willamette University, and as Director of Bands and Jazz Studies at Lane Community College, where the Lane Jazz Ensemble was recognized as the community college winner in the large jazz ensemble category of the Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards. He also previously taught instrumental music at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, SD.

An expert pedagogue, Krueger is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician at festivals and competitions, and has been published in the Oregon Music Educators Journal. Krueger holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon.

Michelle Medler is a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, composer & arranger from the Pacific Northwest, USA. She is the co-founder and director of the Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra as well as active and versatile musician. Michelle holds down the woodwinds & vocals in the 1920s-40s Jazz ensemble, the Shanghai Woolies, plays tenor in the female saxophone band, The Quadraphonnes, plays tenor/flute/keyboards and sings in the original funk/pop band Mystery Seed & is in salsa band, Melao de Cuba. Michelle also fronts a Jazz group under her name finding an outlet for her modern Jazz playing and composing & for touring. She has been a mentor and composer for Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble's (PJCE) Grasshoppers Program as well as played in PJCE's band. Between gigs, she has a private lesson studio, works as a clinician and adjudicator for school bands and solo/ensemble contests, teaches "Jazz Techniques for Educators" at Portland State University and various music classes at the Burlingame Space. Her other interests include art & design, hiking and enjoying the NW wilderness.

Michelle graduated from Portland State University with a Bachelors of Music, Jazz Emphasis. Simultaneous to college she was an artist in residence at Portland, Oregon’s Wilson High school band program (now Ida B. Wells HS). She has performed with The Rebirth Brass Band, The Temptations, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Charmaine & Charles Neville, Yoron Israel & Rick Peckham. Medler also performed on the soundtrack to the film “The Go Getter” (2008) and has recorded as a side-person on various jazz r'n'b albums and soundtracks for musicals.

Dr. Don Norton is an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Portland. As a saxophonist, he has performed extensively in a variety of styles that include jazz, classical, world music, and musical theater, and he has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including a tour of Costa Rica with world music group Panoramic. His research interests include jazz history and pedagogical methods for jazz and saxophone performance, and he has presented research at conferences of the Jazz Education Network and the North American Saxophone Alliance. He is also a clinician with the Vandoren Artist-Clinician Program. He holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado, the New England Conservatory of Music, and Northern Illinois University.

Greg VanWinkle’s love of percussion goes way back: he was a member of the Riverside, Redlands and Inland Empire Smphony Orchestras in Southern California from 1977 to 1993 and part of the 1981 World Champion Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps.

Since his move north in 1998 to become the Director Instrumental Music at Milwaukie High School, he has performed with the Portland Opera and Ballet orchestras and the Oregon Symphonic Band (both as a member and now as a substitute).

Greg stays actively engaged in the Portland music scene, as member of the highly touted Bithcin’s funk band, and as freelance musician.

Collin Wilson is an active performer playing saxophone in jazz, commercial and classical groups throughout the northwest. He is also in demand as a teacher and clinician, currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Music at Columbia Basin College where he directs the jazz ensembles, teaches saxophone, music theory and history of jazz. Collin received his doctorate in music from the University of Illinois where he studied under prolific recording artists in both jazz (Chip McNeill) and classical (Debra Richtmeyer) styles.

Now back in the northwest, Collin can be heard collaborating with many area musicians and leading his own group based in the Tri-Cities. He has performed with great artists across many genres, including Terell Stafford, Jim Pugh, Paquito D'Rivera, the Harry James Orchestra, the Platters and the Coasters. Collin has previously served on faculty at the University of Idaho, Central Washington University and Clark College.

Trumpeter/composer Kevin Woods is quickly emerging as one of the most melodic and emotive voices in improvised music in the Northwest. His passion for both performance and education have made him in demand as a leader and a sideman as well as a composer, arranger and clinician. Woods lives in Bellingham, Washington where he is active as a performer, educator and composer/arranger, and serves as Director of Jazz Studies at Western Washington University. He leads the Kevin Woods Quartet, the Black Woods Duo, and co-leads the Malmo, Sweden based Woods/Axelsson Quartet.