Brad Muirhead
CoDirector – Trombone
Brad Muirhead is well known to audiences across Canada and Europe for his powerful sound and inventive improvising and has been involved in the Vancouver music scene as a performer, composer and arranger for more than 20 years. He has recorded and toured extensively with his own groups Primal Orbit and Brass Roots as well as the NOW Orchestra, Hugh Fraser’s VEJI, and the Hard Rubber Orchestra. His latest original projects as a leader are “The Brad Muirhead Quartet”, his original modern jazz outlet and “Propulsion”, a hard-hitting jazz/funk horn band with Brad on Tuba-bass. Brad has been very active as a music educator and has held such positions as Coordinator of the Banff Summer Jazz Workshop, Producer of the Vancouver & Victoria International Jazz Orchestra Workshops and Artistic Director of the Renfrew Community Performance Project.
Stephen Robb
Codirector – WInds, Piano
Stephen is an accomplished clarinetist jazz pianist, saxophonist, and arranger performing both classical chamber music and jazz idioms, performing the gamut from classical clarinet, chamber, and orchestral repertoire to jazz standards, original compositions, and free improvisation. Stephen is a graduate of Queen’s University at Kingston, McGill University in Montreal and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Currently, Stephen is Music Director of the Delta Community Music School, and the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra. He teaches clarinet, saxophone and jazz piano at the Delta Community Music School. He is a member of the Kris Jay Trio and leads his own jazz piano trio.
Rob Kohler
Online coordinator – Bass
Rob has been a regular at the Stanford Jazz Workshop since 1991. He has held various titles, including; Education Director, Jazz Camp Faculty Coordinator, and Combo Coordinator. Besides teaching combos and Bass Master Class, he has taught Beginning Theory, Intermediate Theory, as well as Advanced Theory. He is mostly known as a bassist however and has performed in concerts, workshops, and masterclasses at SJW with a list of world-class players that includes; John Stowell, Jeff Ballard, Stefan Karlsson, George Garzone, Don Hass, Ndugu Chancellor, Tootie Heath, and Dana Leong to name a few.
Besides the SJW, Rob has been an integral part of the South Delta Jazz Workshop in Vancouver B.C. as well appearing annually at The Vancouver International Music Festival since 1998. He has also been on the faculty at the world re-known New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. While at NOCCA he created and directed a middle school program as well worked with at the high school during the school year and their summer sessions.
As a composer, Rob has been the recipient of two NEA Grants and his originals have been featured on numerous recordings.
He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Bass performance at MSU.
Len Aruliah
Saxophone – Masterclass and Concerts
Len Aruliah is a freelance musician active in London and Vancouver. He released his first album Full Circle in 2007 with a quartet playing his compositions and has recently recorded current works with a new sextet. In London, Len has worked with the Charles Condy Quartet, Paul Weinreb’s Tarantula, the Hot Orange Big Band, the 4Seasons Band, and his own groups. He has also toured the UK with singer Gene Pitney, worked in theatre orchestras in London’s West End, and has toured the world performing on cruise liners. Len studied at UBC and the Banff Centre, working with great musicians such as Julia Nolan, David Branter, Stan Karp, Fred Stride, Hugh Fraser, Kenny Wheeler, Pat LaBarbera, and Don Thompson. Len holds a B. Mus. degree from UBC and is an experienced music educator, having worked in various London colleges, academies, and schools.
Stan Taylor
Drums – Faculty Concerts
Veteran Canadian jazz drummer Stan Taylor has been an integral part of the Vancouver jazz scene for more than 27 years. Stan has played with such artists as Kenny Wheeler, PJ Perry, Vinny Golia, Pat LaBarbara, Ray Anderson, Rob Blakeslee, Fraser MacPherson, Mike Stern, Glen Spearman, Peter Brotzman, Hugh Fraser, and Paul Plimley. In the1990s Stan co-led the legendary Kane/ Taylor Explosion which toured and performed in Canada and the US with the Kokoro Dance Company.
Current projects include Norm Quinn’s Q5, 4Score, Ian Coleman Trio., and Stephen Robb Trio. Stan’s primary focus over the last several years has been his teaching position at the DCMS.
ROn Samworth
Guitar – Faculty Concerts
Guitarist/Composer Ron Samworth has been playing and teaching music professionally for over 30 years.
Critically acclaimed as one of Canada’s leading jazz guitarists and improvisers, Samworth brings his passion for jazz, rock, blues, classical, pop and folk music together in a fusion that represents the breadth of his musical experiences. He leads the celebrated Vancouver based quartet Talking Pictures and codirected the NOW Orchestra for ten years and the Indie rock bands Darkblueworld and the Luscious. He is also a member of the Peggy Lee Band, Birds of Paradox and the Hard Rubber Orchestra. Ron teaches in the jazz studies program at Capilano University.
Ed ORgill
Saxophone
Edward Orgill is an award winning saxophonist and composer who has enjoyed a colorful career performing around the world. His credits include playing Lead Alto Saxophone with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow, and performances with Dick Hyman, Marion McPartland, Bob Wilbur, Michael Brecker, Bob Mintzer, Ernie Watts, John Abercrombie, and many more, with appearances at The North Sea and Montreaux Jazz Festivals, The International Association for Jazz Education Convention, and The Oregon Festival of American Music. Ed has also been a woodwind specialist and featured soloist on the Inaugural World Voyage of Holland America Line’s Flagship M.S. Rotterdam, the Inaugural Season on Princess Cruises’ M.S. Sun Princess, and the Inaugural Voyage to China and the Far East on Crystal Cruises’ M.S. Crystal Symphony. Ed is currently putting the finishing touches on a Doctorate of Arts Degree in Saxophone Performance and Pedagogy with a secondary emphasis in Jazz Pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado, and holds Masters of Music Degrees in both Woodwind Performance and Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon. Currently, Ed is a visiting lecturer and Jazz Ensemble director at Westfield State College in western Massachusetts.
John Stowell
Guitar – Masterclass, Faculty Concert
John Stowell began his successful career in the early 1970’s with private study with guitarist Linc Chamberland and pianist John Mehegan. Both men were valuable mentors to John, allowing him to play with them as he progressed in his development. Several years later he met bassist David Friesen in New York City, and they formed a duo that recorded and toured prolifically for seven years, with performances in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
In 1983, John and David joined flutist Paul Horn and Paul’s son Robin Horn (on drums) for a historic tour of the Soviet Union. This was the first time in forty years that an American jazz group had been invited to play public performances in Russia. In 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2012 John returned to Russia, playing in numerous cities. His two sold-out performances in Kursk may have been the first appearances there by an American jazz musician.
John continues to tour, record and teach internationally. He has been Artist-In-Residence at schools in Germany, Indonesia, Argentina, and in the United States and Canada. He served as assistant director and performer in Oregon Public Broadcasting’s PDX Jazz Summit in 1991, and since 1995 has been a contributing columnist for a number of magazines, including “Downbeat”, “Guitar Player”, “Canadian Musician”, “Soundcheck” (Germany), and “Guitar Club” (Italy).