Faculty Musicians

Barry Erb – NWBB Program Director

Saxophone Sectionals

Barry Erb is a retired Navy Captain, Navy helicopter pilot, and skilled saxophone player. After his final flying tour in the Navy, he went back to college and received a BA in Music Performance from the University of West Florida followed by a Master of Arts in Teaching from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He has been part of countless ensembles throughout the years, including organizing and directing his own Big Band as well as numerous Saxophone Quartets and Quintets. He is currently Director of the A’ Town Big Band in Anacortes, WA, and the Herding Kats Jazz Nonet (Oak Harbor, WA), and plays saxophone with Skagit Swings Big Band (Anacortes) and occasionally Paul Sorenson’s Big Band out of Bellingham, WA. Barry has been an adjudicator for the San Juan Music Educators Association (SJMEA) festival since 2018. A participant since 2006, he now organizes the annual NWBB Jazz Camp.

Vince Fejeran – Big Band Director

Trombone

Vince Fejeran is very active in the music scene throughout the Skagit Valley, WA area, playing trombone with a number of local bands. He has been the Director of the Skagit Community Band since 1994, and is an advisor to the Manieri Jazz Endowment of the Anacortes Public Library, which funds projects to promote the understanding and appreciation of jazz music. Vince is the principal trombone player for the Skagit Symphony, and teaches band at Immaculate Conception Regional School in Mount Vernon, WA. He holds a degree in Music Education from the University of Puget Sound, and is an adjunct instructor at Skagit Valley College, where he teaches Instrumental Jazz, Jazz History, and Music Theory classes. Additionally, Vince has been an adjudicator for the San Juan Music Educators Association (SJMEA) high school large group band festival for several years.

Chris Bruya – Little Big Band Director

Trumpet / Flugelhorn

Chris Bruya recently retired as Director of Jazz Studies at Central Washington University (Ellensburg, WA), where he pioneered curriculum in jazz piano and improvisation, built a small-group program, and the big band was recognized as one of the finest in the country, performing at the Montreux, North Sea and Next Generation jazz festivals, and three Jazz Education Network (JEN) conferences. In 2015 the band placed first at the Next Generation Festival, which included a performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. In 2015 the band was featured on Barney McClure’s CD Show Me! and their own 2008 release In A Mellow Tone on Seabreeze Records. There are over 150 live-recorded YouTube videos of the band which have been recognized as some of the strongest recordings of the big band literature. Chris has served on Washington Music Educators Association (WMEA), Oregon Music Education Association (OMEA), and International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) boards in both Oregon and Washington, presented at regional conferences, and remains in demand as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the Northwest and beyond. In 2016 WMEA honored him with the Collegiate Educator of the Year award and he was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Hall of Fame in 2022. You can watch Chris directing the CWU Jazz Band at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1QUYWQZVU8

Dmitri Matheny – Guest Artist (Flugelhorn)

Trumpet Sectionals

“Dmitri Matheny is a jazz treasure. The lyrical Matheny has impressive chops, but it’s his warmth and soulfulness that win you over.”—All Music Guide.
Acclaimed for his warm tone, soaring lyricism and masterful technique, American flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny has been lauded as “one of the most emotionally expressive improvisers of his generation” (International Review of Music). An honors graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Dmitri vaulted onto the jazz scene in the 1990s as the protégé of jazz legend Art Farmer. Since then he has garnered critical acclaim and a loyal international following, touring extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, traveling to 19 countries. With over 120 recordings to his credit, Dmitri Matheny has released 12 albums as a leader. His latest is Cascadia (2022), which offers inspired performances of timeless classics and original jazz from the Pacific Northwest. The San Francisco Chronicle calls Matheny “one of the jazz world’s most talented horn players.” Throughout his professional career as a concert and recording artist, Dmitri has distinguished himself as a dedicated educator, community leader and advocate for jazz and the arts. He presents clinics, lectures, master classes and workshops at leading universities and conservatories, and is gratified to have staged more than 500 free, curriculum-based concerts for kids, introducing over 50,000 school children to jazz. Learn more at https://www.dmitrimatheny.com/

Dave Keim – Trombone & Brass Sectionals

A life-long resident of Bellingham, Washington and a graduate of Western Washington University, Dave Keim has an impressive career as a jazz musician. After serving as a musician in the U.S. Navy for 4 years, he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra from 1974 – 1976. He worked as a freelance musician in Seattle for most of the 1980s, performing at various venues and in theatrical productions. From 1996 through 2021, Dave was lead trombone for the Count Basie Orchestra. Recent honors for the Count Basie Orchestra include a Grammy Award for “Count Plays Duke” (1999) and the 2018 Downbeat Readers Poll Award as the #1 Jazz Orchestra in the world. Dave will start playing with the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra in 2021-2022. Having performed around the world for the past 25 years, Dave lent his world-class musicianship to guide participants of the Northwest Big Band Jazz Camp in 2021 and 2022. Based on his current tour schedule with the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra, Dave will join us again in 2023!

Andy Carr – Rhythm Sectionals

Piano

Andy Carr has been active in the Puget Sound music scene for 40 years, as accompanist and arranger for vocalists, choirs, and musical theatre; and as a jazz pianist with groups ranging from small combos to big bands. A resident of beautiful Camano Island, WA and happily retired from corporate life, Andy maintains a busy schedule performing with the A’Town Big Band, Whistle Lake Jazz Quartet, Herding Kats Jazz Nonet, Swingnuts Jazz, Rane Nogales Trio, The Fat Fridays, Tangoheart, and the Seabreeze Jazz Band; and accompanying choral concerts at The Overlake School in Redmond.

Jamie Findlay – Rhythm Sectionals

Guitar

Jamie Findlay is a master of contemporary acoustic guitar. With two CDs under his own name (“Wings of Light” and “Amigos del Corazón”) Jamie is also a very busy performer and composer. His music is flavored by many styles, from jazz and blues to pop and funk. Jamie formed the Acoustic Jazz Quartet, an L.A. based jazz band that featured Jamie’s compositions. Their first Naxos Jazz release was distributed worldwide in 1999, and a second Acoustic Jazz Quartet album “Organic” was released in 2001. In 2002 Jamie formed a guitar duo with Duck Baker, and the pair recorded a collection of jazz guitar duos titled “Out of the Past.” Jamie continues to perform solo as well.

Jamie has published two instructional videos (“Acoustic Fingerpicking” and “Acoustic Guitar Soloing” with Starlicks) and has written four books: one featuring his own compositions from the Acoustic Music Records “Amigos del Corazón,” a book of fingerstyle arrangements of jazz standards, a book on harmonic technique, and one on Chord Shapes for Hal Leonard. He contributes to several guitar magazines throughout the world, and taught Jazz Guitar at the University of Southern California and Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA. While living in Los Angeles, Jamie spent time performing and recording with the Buddy Childers Big Band and the Steve Huffsteter Big Band, amongst others. Learn more at https://robertsmusicinstitute.com/jamie-findlay/

John Flancher – Bass

John Flancher (bass) and Grant Wilson (drums) also worked with the jazz combos in 2021.