UO Faculty Jazz Ensemble performs at the Jazz Station in Eugene
- Paul Krueger trumpet
- Idit Shner saxophone
- Keith Brown piano
- Tyler Abbott bass
- Ken Mastrogiovanni drums
The UO Faculty Jazz Ensembles returns to The Jazz Station. Each performer is contributing an original work and a favorite standard for the evening's concert.
Paul Krueger is an Instructor of Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon where he teaches Advanced Jazz Arranging, Jazz Pedagogy, jazz trumpet, small jazz ensemble, jazz improvisation and jazz composition, and directs the program’s premier big band, the Oregon Jazz Ensemble. He is also the director of the Oregon Jazz Festival, which takes place each January in Eugene, OR, and the University of Oregon Jazz Improvisation Summer Jazz Camp, which takes place each July. Krueger's compositions and arrangements have been programmed by university ensembles around the country, and have been performed by artists such as Kendrick Scott, Dave Pietro, Steve Wilson, and Dan Tepfer. In May 2012, Krueger's arrangement of Steve Wilson's "Wish You Were Here" received a Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for Best Jazz Arrangement, and Krueger was named one of ASCAP's Young Jazz Composer Award winners for original compositions in 2012, 2013, and 2014. He is published by UNC Jazz Press and Walrus Music Publishing. Krueger’s first album, The Wayward Traveler , was released independently in December 2011, and features eight of his original compositions performed by his quartet.
An active performer of both jazz and classical music, Idit Shner has played in various distinguished venues in the United States and abroad, such as The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Lincoln Center in New York. As a classical saxophonist Idit has commissioned and recorded new music and performed solo recitals in the US and Israel. Her third CD, Le Merle Noir, featuring music by Messiaen, Bozza, Partos, and Glass, was released on Origin Classics in August 2013. Her previous classical recording, FISSURES: 20th Century Music for saxophone and Harp with renowned harpist Yumiko Schlaffer, received great acclaim and was played on NPR's All Things Considered. Idit has collaborated with Fireworks, Beta Collide and Third Angle (new music ensembles), and performed with the Oregon Symphony and the Eugene Symphony. Other appearances include CBDNA, the Northwest Percussion Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, the Oregon Bach Festival, and many North American Saxophone Alliance Conventions. During March 2006 she played in Israel as a featured soloist with a symphonic orchestra, and performed contemporary music at the national convention of the Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the US. Her last solo recital in Israel was broadcasted live on Voice of Music, a national public radio station. As a jazz saxophonist, Shner performed at the Diet Coke Woman in Jazz Festival (NY), Bellayre Festival (NY), and New-Trier Jazz Festival (IL); toured with pianist Jangun Bae in Korea and Japan; and continues to perform with her jazz quartet in the Pacific Northwest. Her jazz debut, Tuesday’s Blues, was released on OA2 Records and received great reviews from Jazz Times, All Music Guide, and Jazz Review. Her second jazz recording, Nine Short Stories, received a four-star review from Downbeat and excellent radio airplay. Idit serves as Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon. She was recently awarded two prestigious teaching awards: The 2015 Thomas F. Herman Award for Excellent in Pedagogy in areas of saxophone technique and chamber music coaching; and the 2016 University of Oregon Faculty Excellence Award. Her students consistently win Concerto Competitions as well as Downbeat magazine awards. She is a sought-after clinician, who taught numerous master classes throughout the USA and Israel.
Memphis-born, Knoxville-raised, Keith Brown is one of the most in-demand pianists on the contemporary jazz scene. Since he began playing jazz at the age of 18, Brown has performed and recorded with a who’s-who of jazz luminaries. He currently tours as the pianist for Charles Tolliver and Jazzmeia Horn and has shared the stage with great jazz artists such as Stefon Harris, Buster Williams, Lenny White, Camille Thurman & The Darrell Green Trio, Dezron Douglas, Sherman Irby, Steve Slagle, Terreon Gully, Kenneth Whalum III, David Weiss, Mike Clark, Bill Saxton, Joe Farnsworth, Greg Tardy, John Clayton, Benny Golson, and Bobby Watson to name a few. Keith continues to draw inspiration from his roots in R&B, Funk, Classical, Jazz and Hip-Hop and constantly explores new ways of integrating these influences. “I always try to write and perform in a way that is intellectual but that has a strong sense of melody or groove that can touch those who are open enough to listen.” Brown earned his bachelor’s degree in Music and master’s degree in Music from the University of Tennessee.
Tyler Abbott is an instructor of double bass, jazz bass, and music theory. He maintains an active performance schedule as an orchestral bassist, chamber musician, jazz bassist, clinician, and soloist, performing throughout the region and nation with some of the finest musicians in both the classical and jazz music worlds. He has recently performed with, or is a member of, the Eugene Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Festival of American Music’s “American Symphonia,” Eugene Opera Orchestra, Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, Salem Chamber Orchestra, and several other professional orchestras throughout the region and country. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Oregon String Quartet, Pacifica Trio, Beta Collide, and Hundreth Monkey, a contemporary ensemble based in Eugene, of which he was co-director. As a jazz bassist, Abbott has performed with Tom Grant, Ben Monder, Randy Porter, Roswell Rudd, Danilo Perez, Dave Pietro, Scott Wenholdt, Nancy King, George Mitchell, Arnie Caruthers, Ryan Keberle, Randy Halberstadt, Dick Hyman, Howard Levy, Warren Rand, John Stowell, and many others. He regularly performs in jazz festivals and on radio broadcasts. His recording with Toby Koenigsberg, Sense, was released by Origin Records and was met with numerous favorable reviews.
Ken Mastrogiovanni is a musician based in Eugene, Oregon. He holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Popular Music Studies/Japanese from the University of Oregon. There, he studied closely with teachers including Gary Hobbs, Steve Owen, and Paul Krueger. During his time at the University of Oregon, he was a part of the Oregon Jazz Ensemble (OJE) and the Herbert Merker Scholarship JazzArts Oregon Combo. As a member of OJE, he received the 2015 Reno Jazz Festival Outstanding College Performer award, and performed at the Oregon Jazz Festival, Reno International Jazz Festival, the Western International Band Conference (WIBC), and renown European Jazz Festivals including the Vienne, Montreux, Umbria, and La Spezia Jazz Festivals. Mastrogiovanni has established himself as an important member of the Eugene music community. He is actively performing in Oregon with various groups, and has performed around the country with The Daddies. In addition to performing, he also currently maintains a private lesson studio and is the drum set instructor at Lane Community College and University of Oregon. As a producer, you can find him collaborating with Eugene and Portland based hip hop artists.
