Brass
Thomas barber
trumpet/jazz Director
Thomas has been active as both a trumpeter and composer since graduating The Julliard School in 2004. As a composer, he has written scores for over twenty independent films and t.v. shows. As a freelance trumpeter, he has performed with Paul Simon, Brian Blade, Joe Locke, Steve Wilson, Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Esperanza Spalding, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Carla Cook, Tom Harrell, Nasheet Waits, and many more.After he won both the Lionel Hampton High School Trumpet Competition and the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition in Gothenborg, Sweden in 1997, he attended the University of Northern Colorado, graduating with a degree in classical trumpet performance. While at UNC, Thomas had opportunities to play with many of the musicians who passed through, including Louie Bellson, Pete Fountain, Nicholas Payton, Maria Schneider, Bob Brookmeyer, Conrad Herwig and Kenny Wheeler.
Thomas resides in Portland and is a member of the funk/ soul group Dirty Revival, which tours the country year round.
Leander Star
french horn instructor
Leander serves as the horn instructor at both Rhodes College and the University of Mississippi at Oxford and is a member of the award-winning wind quintet the City of Tomorrow. The City of Tomorrow was awarded the Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2011 and later received a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant in 2014. Leander also holds positions with the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra and the Portland Opera Orchestra and plays regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, and the Arkansas Symphony in Little Rock. He is a graduate of San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University. More info at leanderstar.com.
chris shuttleworth
LOW BRASS INSTRUCTOR
Since graduating from the DePaul University School of Music with a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies, Chris Shuttleworth has maintained a busy schedule as a leader and sideman in the Chicago and Portland areas. He has performed with Chicago, Portland, and National mainstays such as Greg Ward, Matt Ulery, Michael Reed, Michael Raynor, Chuck Israels, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Dana Hall, Pharez Whitted, James Davis, Dennis Carroll, Wanees Zarour, Jeremy Cunningham, Matt Mayhall, Geof Bradfield, Dustin Laurenzi, Noah Simpson, Alan Jones, George Colligan, and Katie Ernst, at venues such as Constellation, Chicago Symphony Center, the Green Mill, Soldier Field, Minute Maid Park, Madison Square Garden, Wintrust Arena, Fulton Street Collective, the Pritzker Pavilion, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, the Studebaker Theater, the Auditorium Theater, and Carnegie Music Hall.
Chris Shuttleworth’s compositions have been performed by groups led both by himself and by others in venues such as the Green Mill, the Whistler, the Jazz Showcase, the Narloch Piano Studio, Slate Arts, DePaul University, the University of Oregon, the Spite House Concert Series, The Jazz Station, The 1905, and the Pritzker Pavilion.
A passionate educator, Chris has worked with students at the University of Oregon, The Oregon Jazz Workshop, DePaul University, Clackamas Community College, and various middle and high school programs around the Pacific Northwest. He maintains a studio of private students as well as acting as professor of trombone at Oregon State University and Mount Hood Community College.
Chris continues to perform as a leader around the United States as well as maintaining a schedule as an in-demand sideman in the Portland, Chicago, and National jazz scenes.