CLINICIANS
Dr. Robert Morgan
Robert “Doc” Morgan retired in 1999 as Director of Jazz Studies at Houston’s High School for Performing and
Visual Arts (HSPVA), a position held since 1976. He was previously director of the jazz program at Sam
Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
Morgan’s degrees are from the University of North Texas (B. M. and M. M.) and the University of
Illinois/Urbana (Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition). He played trumpet and trombone in UNT’s renowned
One O’Clock Lab Band, and piano in the Illinois Jazz Band. His original compositions have been performed and
recorded by the One O’Clock Lab Band, Illinois Jazz Band and Chicago’s Jazz Members Big Band, among
others.
Under Morgan’s direction, the HSPVA jazz program became internationally known as a stimulating model for
the successful training of young jazz aspirants. In a typical school year, at least 60 students, all selected by a
vigorous audition process, are involved in the jazz program at HSPVA. During Morgan’s tenure, no fewer than
79 HSPVA students were selected for the Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble, easily the most of any high school in
the state.
The success of Morgan’s legacy is perhaps best represented by the dozens of HSPVA jazz alumni currently
enjoying significant professional success in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Nashville, Houston, and
elsewhere. Many Louisianans should be familiar with the following ‘PVA grads presently
very prominent in New Orleans:
Derrick Freeman (drums)
Rex Gregory (saxophone)
Jesse McBride (piano)
James Westfall (vibraphone/piano)
Robert Morgan continues to be in wide demand as a jazz adjudicator/clinician/conductor/ composer, and has
served in these capacities throughout the United States and Canada. He has conducted all-state jazz ensembles
in Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin, and has twice been conductor of the Texas Community College
All-State Jazz Ensemble.
Morgan’s many personal honors include:
• 1998: “Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award” by White House Commission on Presidential
Scholars (including ceremony at the White House)
• 1999: Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Boston’s Berklee College of Music
• 2003: “Alumni Achievement Award” from the University of Illinois/Urbana (highest honor the university
bestows on alumni)
• 2005: Induction into the International Association for Jazz Education Hall of Fame
On March 1, 2008, Robert Morgan was honored by the City of Houston with an outdoor concert (“One for
Doc”) commemorating the opening of Houston’s spectacular new downtown park, Discovery Green. An
audience of over 4,000 enjoyed seventeen of Morgan’s most notable ex-students arrayed among six different
groups, climaxed with an appearance by vocalist Al Jarreau (with alumni Chris Walker, bass; Mark Simmons,
drums). Andrea White, wife of Houston Mayor Bill White, presented Morgan with a document proclaiming
March 1, 2008, as “Robert ‘Doc’ Morgan Day in Houston, Texas.”
Leon Anderson, Jr.
2008-2009
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Associate Professor and Director of Jazz Studies, joined the Florida State University faculty in 1998. His
musical experience has included that of a classical and jazz percussionist, educator, clinician, and composer. He
received the B.A. degree in music education at Louisiana Tech University and studied at Baylor University. Mr.
Anderson completed his M.A. degree in percussion performance at Southeastern Louisiana University in 1996.
While at Southeastern, he studied with mentor Ellis Marsalis and Victor Goines of the New Orleans jazz scene.
Subsequently, Marsalis hired him to teach drums and percussion at the University of New Orleans. Currently
he performs and tours nationally and internationally with Marsalis, Goines, Walter Payton andthe Snapbean
Band, and the Third Coast Jazz Quintet. In 1997 Anderson was a featured soloist with The Marcus Roberts
Trio and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. He has also performed with the
Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and with artists Dianne Reeves,
Judy Collins, Henry Mancini, Delfeayo Marsalis, Art Farmer, Jason Marsalis and the Temptations. Recent
engagements include performances with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra
de France, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. His professional recordings include Marcus Roberts' Cole After Midnight
Vol. I, Columbia Records, 1998; Victor Goines' Joe's Blues, Rosemary Joseph Records, 1997; and Third Coast
with the Third Coast Jazz Quintet, for which he also wrote five original compositions. At FSU Anderson
teaches drum set, jazz ensembles, and rhythm section methods.
2007-2008
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Mike Steinel is an Associate Professor in the Jazz Studies Division of the College of Music at the University of
North Texas. He teaches Jazz Improvisation, Pedagogy of Improvisation, and Jazz Trumpet Masterclass. He
directs the UNT Jazz Combo Workshop and the UNT Jazz Trumpet Workshop. He has published numerous
compositions for jazz ensembles. He is the author of the textbook Building A Jazz Vocabulary. He is a
trumpeter, pianist and composer and has numerous recordings to his credit.
Mike Steinel holds a BME degree from Emporia State University and a MME degree from the University of
North Texas. An experienced jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer and arranger, Mr. Steinel was jazz artist in
residence at Bethel College and was on the faculty of Northern Illinois University before coming to North
Texas. He has served on the faculties of the Clark Terry Jazz Camp, the Jamey Aebersold Improvisation
Camps, the Saskatchewan Summer Jazz Camp and the University of Missouri Summer Jazz Residency. Mike
has performed as soloist at the MENC and IAJE national conventions and at the Midwest Band and Orchestra
Clinic. His playing experience includes work with Clark Terry, Don Ellis, Bill Evans, Jerry Bergonzi and
recordings with the Chicago Jazz Quintet and the Frank Mantooth Big Band. Honors received include an Illinois
Arts Council Chairman's Grant (1985) and a jazz fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
(1987).
2006-2007
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Dean Sorenson (b. 1963) is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota as well as a prolific and
highly sought-after composer, arranger, trombonist, educator, and clinician. He received his bachelor’s degree
in trombone performance from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree in jazz arranging and
composition from the Eastman School of Music.
Mr. Sorenson is the co-author of the highly successful Standard of Excellence Jazz Ensemble Method, an
innovative and comprehensive method book for young jazz ensembles. The highly anticipated follow-up book,
Standard of Excellence Advanced Jazz Ensemble Method, was released to rave reviews and continues the solid,
practical techniques introduced in the first book. He is also the author of Standard of Excellence Jazz Combo
Session, and composer of numerous pieces for concert band and jazz ensemble published by the Neil A. Kjos
Music Company. As an advocate of jazz education and the expansion of the repertoire, he continues to develop
creative materials and methods to help students and teachers better understand the art form. An outstanding
clinician, conductor, and soloist, he is frequently featured at festivals and conventions around the country and
abroad. He also maintains a full schedule of concert and recording dates as a Yamaha performing artist.
Mr. Sorenson has composed and arranged for numerous ensembles including the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the
Airmen of Note, the United States Air Force Band, and for brass ensembles Proteus 7 and the Chestnut Brass
Company. He is active as a commissioned composer and arranger for jazz ensemble, concert band, and
chamber ensembles, and has also written several sacred choral pieces. Dean is listed in “Who’s Who of
America’s Teachers”, and holds memberships in the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), a
member of the International Trombone Association (ITA), the American Federation of Musicians, Local 30-73
(AFM), the Music Educator’s National Conference (MENC), Minnesota Music Educator’s Association
(MMEA), the College Music Society (CMS), the American Composer’s Forum (ACF) and the Twin Cities Jazz
Society (TCJS).
2005-2006
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Dr. Lou Fischer is Professor of Music, jazz activities coordinator, and jazz ensemble director at Capital
University in Columbus, Ohio, where he directs the big band program, teaches American Pop/Jazz Theory,
Beginning/Advanced Jazz Arranging, and Contemporary Jazz Bass. A member of the internationally recognized
University of North Texas One OClock Lab Band ('71-'74), Fischer received a BM in jazz performance, magna
cum laude ('91) and an MA in Composition with honors ('92) from the University of Denver. He holds a Doctor
of Arts in bass performance, with a secondary in theory and composition from Ball State University in Indiana.
Dr. Fischer is an honorary life member of Phi Mu Alpha and was inducted into Phi Kappa Lambda at BSU.
Thirty-nine years in the entertainment industry include composing and/or performing over two thousand
commercial advertisements, over fifty Broadway Shows, and extensive tours with Bill Watrous, Red Rodney,
Rich Matteson, The Crusaders, Airto, Charlie Byrd, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Emmy Lou Harris, and the
orchestras of Woody Herman, Louis Bellson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Les Hopper, Tex Beneke, and Jimmy Dorsey
among many others. Lou currently has four international album releases under his own name and can be heard
on numerous recordings including Steve Houghtons Tribute to Gershwin: The Manne We Love; two Bill
Watrous compact disks titles A Time For Love and Bone-I-fied; the Shelly Berg Trio: The Joy; Frank
Mantooths Big Band titled A Miracle; and Sunny Wilkinsons big band release High Wire.
Dr. Fischer has appeared as guest director, soloist, clinician, and/or adjudicator at jazz festivals in Europe,
Canada, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Mexico, and at over two hundred plus high
schools/universities in the United States. He continually remains in great demand worldwide, recently directing
the All State Jazz Ensembles of Texas, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma. He has been
contracted to direct the Louisiana ensemble in '05. Lou currently acts as jazz division head for the renowned
Bands of America Summer Symposium. Other camp appointments as artist-in-residence include the Mile High,
Aquinas College, Birch Creek, Richland Academy, Bethany College, and Pink Jazz Camp in Ibbenburen,
Germany. In addition, Lou is coordinator of Capital Universitys Summer Rhythm Section and Improvisation
Workshops.
Service to IAJE includes: Current U.S. Representative, IAJE Executive Board; Immediate Past President-OH;
Leadership -Advocacy Committee Co-Chair; Resource Team Member; New Music Instrumental Chair
('89-present); MidWest Regional Conference Planning Committee (TwoConferences)
Performer/Clinician/Presider at International Conferences; TTI Clinician International Conference Selection
Review Process Committee Chair.
Lou was owner and operator of his own music publishing company for thirteen years. With many
compositions currently in print, Lou is published by Walrus and FJH Music Publishing (05). Lou has
co-authored a text titled Stylistic Etudes in the Jazz Idiom, available through Hal Leonard Music. Scheduled for
release fall 04 from Alfred Music Publishing, Lous latest project, co-authored with Steve Houghton, Shelly
Berg, and Fred Hamilton, is titled Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Band Directors, and is a directors
manual, five method books, play-along compact disk, and DVD featuring much needed insight into several
styles of music in the jazz genre. Lou is also a frequent contributor to the Jazz Educators Journal and The
Instrumentalist.
2004-2005
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Mike Tomaro has been the Director of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA since 1997. This
saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger and educator earned his B.S. Degree in Music Education
from Duquesne University and his M.A. Degree in Saxophone Performance from George Mason University in
Fairfax, VA. Prior to his appointment at Duquesne, he lived in the Washington, D.C. Area for seventeen years
as a member of the Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, a unit of the prestigious "Pershing's Own" U.S. Army Band.
While a member of this group, he served as its Enlisted Musical Director and performed for Presidents Reagan,
Bush and Clinton as well as heads of state from around the world. He also composed and/or arranged much of
the Army Blues repertoire and was featured as a soloist on several of the group's albums and CDs. Mike is a
Yamaha Performing Artist and
endorses Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces and ligatures.
Mike has four nationally released recordings under his own name that showcase his talents as both performer
and writer - "Forgotten Dreams" (Seabreeze Jazz), "Dancing Eyes" (Seabreeze Jazz), and "Home Again"
(Positive Music). His latest CD, "Nightowl Suite" was released in March 2005 on the Seabreeze Jazz label.
This disc, Mike's first under his own name in ten years, features his compositions and arrangements as
performed by the Three Rivers Jazz Orchestra, a group that he co-founded this past year. Additionally, Mike
has also been featured on many other CDs as both performer and arranger, the most current being jazz vocalist
Nancy Wilson's Gramm Award winning release, "RSVP" on the MCG Jazz label.
As a composer and arranger, Mike's music has been performed by the likes of jazz greats Nancy Wilson,
Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Ernie Watts, Bobby Shew, Claudio Roditi, New York Voices, Al Vizzutti, and
many more, as well as high schools, colleges and universities around the world. Over eighty of his
compositions and arrangements are published by Doug Beach Music, Hal Leonard Publications, and Walrus
Music.
As a performer, Mike has worked with such diverse artists and groups as Nancy Wilson, Rosemary Clooney,
Ray Charles, Michael Feinstein, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Mathis, Terence Blanchard, Louis Bellson, Terry
Gibbs, Dizzy Gillespie Tribute Big Band, New York Voices, Woody Herman Orchestra and the Smithsonian
Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. In his hometown, he has performed with guitarist Joe Negri, the Pittsburgh
Symphony, Pittsburgh Ballet and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble in addition to leading his own small groups.
In addition to all these activities, Mike is currently working on a textbook on jazz arranging and orchestration
with his long-time mentor, Dr. John Wilson, who was Director of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University from
1972-1996. The book is scheduled for publication by Kendor Music. Mike is a long-time associate of the
International Association for Jazz Education where he is a member of its prestigious resource team in the area
of arranging and composition. He is also affiliated with the American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers where he has received an ASCAP Plus award for the past four years, the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences, and the Pittsburgh Jazz Society, where he is member of its board of directors.
Mike is in great demand both nationally and internationally as a guest soloist, adjudicator, and clinician.
2003-2004
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Antonio J. GarcÍa is an associate professor of music and director of jazz studies at Virginia Commonwealth
University where he directs the Jazz Orchestra I; instructs Applied Jazz Trombone, Small Jazz Ensemble,
Music Industry and various jazz courses; an directs the Greater Richmond High School Jazz Band. An alumnus
of the Eastman School and of Loyola of the South, he has received commissions for jazz, symphonic, chamber
and solo works — instrumental and vocal — including grants from Meet The Composer, The Commission
Project, the Thelonious Mon Institute and regional arts councils. His music has aired internationally and has
been performed by such artists as Sheila Jordan, Arturo Sandoval, Bobby Shew, Denis DiBlasio, James Moody
and Nick Brignola. Composition/arrangement honors include IAJE (jazz band), ASCAP (orchestral) an Billboard
Magazine (pop songwriting). His works have been published by Kjos Music, Kendor Music, Doug Beach
Music, Walrus, UNC Jazz Press, Three-Two Music Publications and his own garciamusic.com. Five of his
works have been recorded on CDs by Rob Parton's JazzTech Big Band (Sea Breeze and ROPA JAZZ).
A Bach/Selmer trombone clinician, García has freelanced as trombonist, bass trombonist, or pianist with over
70 nationally renowned artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing, Mel Tormé, Doc Severinsen, Louie
Bellson and Phil Collins, and has performed at the Montreux, Nice, North Sea, Pori (Finland), New Orleans and
Chicago jazz festivals. He has produced recordings or broadcasts of such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Jim
Pugh, Dave Taylor, Susannah McCorkle, Sir Roland Hanna and the JazzTech Big Band. An avid scat singer, he
has performed vocally with jazz bands, jazz choirs and computer-generated sounds. He is also a member of the
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS). A New Orleans native, GarcÍa has performed
there with such local artists as Pete Fountain, Ronnie Kole, Irma Thomas and Al Hirt.
GarcÍa is associate jazz editor of the International Trombone Association Journal. Within the International
Association for Jazz Education he currently serves as past editor of the Jazz Education Journal, past president
of IAJE-IL and past international co-chair for curriculum and for vocal/instrumental integration, and he has
served as Chicago host coordinator for the 1997 IAJE conference. He is co-editor and contributing author of
"Teaching Jazz: A Course of Study" (published by MENC). He served on the Illinois Coalition for Music
Education coordinating committee, worked with the Illinois and Chicago public schools to develop standards
for multicultural music education and received a curricular grant from the Council for Basic Education. He also
has served as director of IMEA's All-State Jazz Choir and Combo and of similar ensembles outside of Illinois.
He is the recipient of the Illinois Music Educators Association's 2001 Distinguished Service Award.
A member of the board of the Midwest Clinic, GarcÍa has adjudicated festivals and presented clinics in Canada,
Europe, South Africa and Australia, including creativity workshops for Motorola, Inc.’s international
management executives. He has served as adjudicator for the International Trombone Association's Frank
Rosolino Jazz Trombone Scholarship competition and Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Ensemble competition and
has been asked to serve on Arts Midwest's "Midwest Jazz Masters" panel and the Virginia Commission for the
Arts' "Artist Fellowship in Music Composition" panel. He has been repeatedly published in Down Beat, Music,
Inc., the International Musician, the Instrumentalist and the journals of MENC, IAJE, ITA, American Orff-
Schulwerk Association, Percussive Arts Society, Arts Midwest, Illinois Music Educators Association and
Illinois Association of School Boards. Prior to joining the faculty at VCU, GarcÍa served as associate professor
and coordinator of combos at Northwestern University where he taught jazz and integrated arts, was jazz
coordinator for the National High School Music Institute and for four years directed the Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
Formerly the coordinator of jazz studies at Northern Illinois University, he was selected by students and faculty
there as the recipient of a 1992 "Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching" award and nominated as its candidate
for the 1992 CASE "U.S. Professor of the Year" (one of 434 nationwide).
2002-2003
LMEA All State Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Steve Houghton joined the IU School of Music faculty full-time in 2004 after serving as a visiting faculty
member since 2000. Internationally acclaimed jazz drummer, percussionist, clinician, author, and educator, he
teaches in the Departments of Percussion and Jazz Studies.
In addition to teaching drum set and rhythm master classes, he manages the jazz combo program, which gives
students the opportunity to play one-on-one. He continues to teach at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los
Angeles in the summers.
Professor Houghton initially received acclaim at age 20 as the drummer with Woody Herman's Young
Thundering Herd. Since then, he has shared stage and studio with luminaries Diana Krall, Toots Thielemans,
Freddie Hubbard, Lyle Mays, Billy Childs, Pat LaBarbara, Arturo Sandoval, Joe Henderson, and Maureen
McGovern, with whom he tours today.
His discography numbers more than 100 recordings, including: The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited, a
recent release of John Williams' charts for big band and quintet, initially recorded by Shelly Manne on Capitol
in 1965; the Steve Houghton Quintet Live at the Senator; Windsong; Remembrances; and Steve Houghton. As
a classical percussionist, Professor Houghton has performed with the Boston and Philadelphia Pops orchestras,
as well as with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He frequently appears as a soloist with numerous orchestras
and wind ensembles throughout the world.
As an author, Professor Houghton has published more then 20 composite educational tools including Jazz
Director's Guide to the Rhythm Section (Alfred Publications), The Ultimate Drumset Chart Reading Anthology
(Alfred), Playing and Teaching Percussion (GIA), and The Drumset Soloist (Warner Bros.). He was recently
featured in an article published in the Modern Drummer (2003) entitled, "The Thundering Drummers of Woody
Herman.
