Clinician Info
Dr. Robert Washut
Dr. Washut is Professor of Music at the University of Northern Iowa, where he served as Director of Jazz Studies from 1980 – 2002. An accomplished jazz composer and arranger, Washut has received numerous commissions from collegiate jazz ensembles, professional jazz artists, and symphony orchestras. Many of his works are published by the UNC Jazz Press (Greeley,CO), Walrus Music Publishing (Pismo Beach, CA), C.L. Barnhouse (Oskaloosa, IA), and Heritage JazzWorks (Lorenz Corp – Dayton, OH).
During his 22 years as director of the award-winning UNI Jazz Band One, Washut recorded 11 CDs (two of which earned 5-star ratings from DownBeat magazine), toured Europe three times, consistently received “Outstanding Band” recognition at collegiate jazz festivals throughout the Midwest, and was awarded three “Outstanding Performance” citations in DownBeat’s Annual Student Music Awards.
He is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the country and is an active jazz pianist, who founded the Latin jazz band, Orquesta Alto Maiz . He recorded and released a jazz trio CD entitled Songbook ( Sea Breeze Jazz : SB-3036) in 1999. Washut was inducted into the Iowa IAJE Hall of Fame in 2003 and was selected as Outstanding Teacher at UNI in 1996.
James Ketch
Professor Ketch enjoys a varied career as both professional trumpeter and educator. As a Bach trumpet artist and clinician for the Selmer Corporation, Mr. Ketch is in demand as both a classical and jazz artist. As Music Director of the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra (NCJRO) he has established himself as an outstanding performer in both traditional and contemporary jazz styles. His leadership of the NCJRO has resulted in three compact disc recordings Holiday Jazz Blizzard (1998), Benny Goodman: The Swing Collection (1999) and Duke Ellington: A Centennial Collection (1999) and two statewide PBS-TV broadcasts Duke Ellington: A Concert of Sacred Music (1995-1996) and This is Jazz! (1997). The NCJRO and Professor Ketch have received praise from nationally known figures including Wynton Marsalis, John Edward Hasse, David Berger, Mark Tucker, and David Baker.
Equally adept as a classical musician, Mr. Ketch has been featured soloist in performances of the most significant works for the trumpet including the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and the Concertos of Haydn and Hummel. He has performed in over a dozen conferences of the International Trumpet Guild and has chaired several events at those conferences including the 1998 Jazz Improvisation Competition at the University of Kentucky-Lexington. As a freelance musician he is frequently heard with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, in pit orchestras for touring Broadway productions and the North Carolina Theater, with singing groups like The Temptations, The Four Tops, Ben E. King, and the Manhattan Transfer, and with school bands and jazz ensembles across the country.
As an educator, Mr. Ketch has been the recipient of the two highest teaching awards presented on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – the Tanner Award (1992) and a Bowman and Gordon Gray Professorship (1993-1996). In 1995 he was selected by a university committee of students and administrators to serve as the Mid-Winter Commencement Speaker at the Dean E. Smith Center. As Director of Jazz Studies, Professor Ketch has spearheaded a program that now includes two big bands and five combos as well as courses in jazz history, theory/harmony, improvisation, and composing and arranging. The program has produced two compact discs See The World (1999) and Passages – Europe 2000 (2000). On the strength of those performances the UNC Jazz Band was invited to perform at three of Europe’s most prestigious jazz festivals in the summer of 2000 including, Jazz a Vienne (France), The Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), and The North Sea Jazz Festival (The Netherlands). Professor Ketch and his jazz students are commended for their work by Wynton Marsalis in the publication Sweet Swing Blues on the Road.
As both artist and teacher James Ketch’s career reveals a deep commitment and passion for both the performance and teaching of music.
Jazz Ensemble Roster
The SCBDA 2008 All-State Jazz Ensembles are two
bands of equal strength, named for their clinicians.
| 2008 ALL-STATE JAZZ ENSEMBLE – Jim Ketch, Clinician | ||
| INSTRUMENT | NAME | SCHOOL |
| Alto Sax I | Chris Mitchell | Northwestern High School |
| Alto Sax II | Kelly Machado | Charleston School of the Arts |
| Tenor Sax I | Ricky Quinones | Charleston School of the Arts |
| Tenor Sax II | Chris Edel | Aiken High School |
| Bari Sax | Emma Ostapeck | Charleston School of the Arts |
| Trumpet I – Split | Will O’Dell | Chapin High School |
| Joshnua Billingsly | Socastee High School | |
| Solo Chair | Wei-Huan Chen | DW Daniel High School |
| Trumpet III | J. P. Taylor | Socastee High School |
| Trumpet IV | Ashley Marshall | Pickens High School |
| Trombone I | Giff Waltz | Wando High School |
| Trombone II | Jesse Hildreth | Charleston School of the Arts |
| Trombone III | Jonathan Griggs | Hartsville High School |
| Trombone IV | Judge Kelly | Wando High School |
| Guitar | Cameron Sutton | Mauldin High School |
| Piano | Jessie McGinty | Charleston School of the Arts |
| Vibraphone | Jamaal Perry | Charleston School of the Arts |
| Bass | Stephen Bohnstengel | Wando High School |
| Drum Set | Jason Piers | Northwestern High School |
| Aux. Perc. | John Crimminger | Charleston School of the Arts |