Jazz Faculty Profiles | University of Portland

Jazz Faculty Profiles

William "Bill" Athens, Adjunct Professor, Jazz bass
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Bill Athens, applied contrabass, moved to Portland in 1997 and studied classical bass with Ken Baldwin at PSU and improvisation with Darrell Grant. Bill plays jazz with several local groups including his own quartet, the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, and Trio Subtonic. He has recorded several albums and teaches privately in Portland.



Ryan Meagher, Adjunct Professor, Jazz Guitar

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Ryan Meagher (pronounced Marr) launched his international reputation as a jazz guitarist and composer in New York City in 2003. He has seven albums under his own direction on internationally distributed record labels Fresh Sound New Talent and PJCE Records. He has played alongside a wide range of notable and legendary jazz artists including Randy Brecker, Terrel Stafford, John Clayton, David Friesen, and Cuong Vu. When he moved to Portland in mid-2012 he quickly became a fixture in the jazz and creative music scenes as an artist, educator, and organizer. He teaches guitar at the University of Portland and Mt Hood Community College, and runs the jazz programs at Lower Columbia College, and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In addition to his teaching duties, he is also active as an administrator in important cultural outlets like the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble as their Director of Operations and Director of the PJCE Records label. He is also a co-founder of Montavilla Jazz Festival where he is the Programming Director.

 

Don Norton, Assistant Professor, Director of Jazz Studies, Saxophone, History of Jazz and Rock and Roll

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Don Norton is an assistant professor of music and director of jazz studies at the University of Portland. As a saxophonist, he has performed extensively in a variety of styles that include jazz, classical, world music, and musical theatre, and he has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including a tour of Costa Rica with world music group Panoramic. His research interests include jazz history and pedagogical methods for jazz and saxophone performance, and he has presented research at conferences of the Jazz Education Network and the North American Saxophone Alliance.

Don previously taught at Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota State University-Mankato, Spoon River College, and Laramie County Community College, and he served as a graduate assistant in the Jazz Studies Department at the University of Northern Colorado. Additionally, he has taught at the Northern Illinois University Community School of the Arts, as well as the summer jazz camps of Northern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, and the Birch Creek Music Performance Center. He is also a clinician with the Vandoren Regional Artist program.  More information can be found at www.donniesax.com.

Don holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado, the New England Conservatory of Music, and Northern Illinois University. Outside of music, his interests include running, reading, watching sports and other television shows, and hanging out with his dog, Buddy.

Education:

Doctor of Arts, University of Northern Colorado
Master of Music, New England Conservatory of Music
Bachelor of Music, Northern Illinois University

 
Bryn Roberts, Adjunct Professor, Jazz Piano, Jazz Arranging

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Bryn Roberts is a pianist, keyboardist, composer and educator who is in demand across a broad range of musical contexts.

Roberts is a mainstay on the Portland jazz scene, and continues to maintain a presence in New York City where he lived for fifteen years. He plays, tours and records widely both as a leader and a sideman, and is a frequent performer at clubs like Smalls, Mezzrow, The Jazz Gallery and Dizzy’s as well as Portland clubs such as the 1905.

An acclaimed composer and bandleader, Roberts has five albums out featuring his own music: his debut Present Tense, Ludlow (featuring Seamus Blake, Drew Guess and Mark Ferber), Fables (featuring Seamus Blake, Orlando le Fleming and Johnathan Blake) and two duo albums with guitarist Lage Lund, Nightsong and Hide The Moon and the Stars.

Roberts has toured with his own groups, including festival, radio and club appearances across the USA, Canada, the UK, Spain and Japan with some of the world’s finest musicians: Matt Penman, Jochen Rueckert, Rodney Green, Joe Martin, Jaleel Shaw, Johnathan Blake, Mark Ferber, Quincy Davis, Ira Coleman and Tommy Crane. As a sideman he has performed with saxophonists Seamus Blake, Jon Gordon and Will Vinson, Grammy-nominated trombonist Alan Ferber, legendary bassist Chuck Israels, and vocalists Shoshana Bean and Caity Gyorgy, amongst many others.

In addition to his work in jazz and improvised music, Roberts has played and toured with many artists in the singer-songwriter world, including Grammy award winners Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal, Shawn Colvin, Stax records legend William Bell and folk icon Dar Williams. Roberts has a Master’s degree in performance from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

www.bryn-roberts.com

 

Tyson Stubelek, Adjunct Professor, Jazz Percussion

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Portland native, Tyson Stubelek, began playing music at the age of 3 under the guidance of his father, also a drummer. During his youth, Tyson quickly became involved in the local music scene, playing in a number of symphonies and ensembles. Upon meeting and hearing Elvin Jones play live, Tyson, at age twelve, began to focus intently on being a jazz musician, studying with Portland drum gurus Alan Jones and Mel Brown, to whom he attributes much of his musical understanding.

Tyson moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 2005 after rounding out his undergraduate studies at Portland State University, completing a triple major (BM, BS, BS), and continued on with 4 years of graduate level pursuits (MM, GD) at the New England Conservatory, where he studied intently with many of the world’s finest musicians including: Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Billy Hart, and Bob Moses. In 2009 Tyson moved to New York City where he continued to work and live as a professional for 4 years.

Tyson has been teaching drum lessons for the past 17 years in schools and privately. He has toured internationally across Canada, the UK, the United States, and has performed with numerous prominent musicians including: Danilo Perez, Esperanza Spaulding, Brian Lynch, Joe Locke, Don Byron, Clay Jenkins, Chuck Isreals, Julian Lage, David Friesen, Glen Moore, Todd Sickafoose, Devin Philips, Shook Twins, Tony Furtado, Anna Tivel, George Colligan, and Darrell Grant.

In 2013, Tyson returned home to Portland where he performs in a variety of stylistically diverse projects and teaches regularly, both privately, as well as at the University of Portland. He remains entirely dedicated to learning new things, bettering himself as a person and musician, and passing on positivity through music community.