Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
The Wheeling High School Jazz Combo is comprised of the best improvisers from our Jazz Band 1. In 2015 the Jazz Combo earned top honors at the Northshore Jazz Festival and the Jazz in the Meadows Festival. All members of our Jazz Combo study privately and have attended the Birch Creek Summer Jazz Camp and/or the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Camp. Jazz Combo rehearses once a week for two hours. This is in addition to private lessons and three hours of big band rehearsal. Many of these students also play in MYA jazz groups directed by Christopher Madsen. All jazz rehearsals take place outside the school day.
2015 has been extremely exciting for our Jazz Band 1. The band was awarded the Mark of Excellence National Jazz Honors Project Winner for the fifth time and earned Grand Champions at the Northshore Jazz Festival and Jazz in the Meadows Festival. An honor the band has received numerous times. Jazz 1 also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) and Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy), summer 2014 and 2009. They performed at the 67th Annual Midwest Clinic, with guest artists Wayne Bergeron, Chris Madsen, Dennis Carroll, and Doug Beach in 2013. The Jazz Band 1 has performed at the ILMEA All State Conference. In April 2010, Jazz Band I performed for over 7,000 attendees at the National School Board Association Annual Conference in Chicago’s McCormick Place, opening for Wynton Marsalis. Jazz Band 1 also performed at the Midwest Clinic in 2008. Numerous Wheeling High School jazz band members have earned outstanding soloist, district, and all state honors. Jazz Band 1 has released seven compact discs and earned numerous “DB” awards from Down Beat Magazine.
In recent years Jazz Band 1 has performed with Wayne Bergeron, Dennis Carroll, Mark Colby, Tim Coffman, Brian Culbertson, Peter Erskine, Curtis Fuller, Tom Garling, Bob Lark, Chris Madsen, Rob Parton, Jim Pugh, Mike Pendowski, Haley Reinhart, Bobby Shew, Glenn Wilson, and more.
Wheeling High School Jazz Combo
Conductor's Bio
Brian J. Logan has been Director of Bands at Wheeling High School since 1990. His responsibilities include directing the Wind Symphony, Symphony Band, Jazz Band I, Jazz Combo, Marching Band, and Pep Band. Mr. Logan is also the Fine and Performing Arts Coordinator at Wheeling High School. Prior to his appointment at Wheeling, Mr. Logan directed bands at Holmes Middle School, Wheeling, Illinois, and at Gemini Junior High School, Niles, Illinois.
Ensembles under Mr. Logan’s direction have performed at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic four times, including 2015. The Wheeling High School Wind Symphony has performed at the University of Illinois SuperState Concert Band Festival fourteen times and will make their fourth appearance at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival in March 2016.
Mr. Logan’s groups have been winners in Down Beat Magazine’s Annual Student Music Awards twelve times and earned Grand Champion at the prestigious Jazz in the Meadows and Northshore Jazz Festivals multiple times. The Wheeling Jazz Band performed at the Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy) and the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in 2009 and 2014. In April 2010, the Jazz Band opened for Wynton Marsalis at the National School Board Association Conference, performing for over 7,000 attendees.
The Wheeling Jazz Band has been selected as the Mark of Excellence National Winner four times in recent years. The Wheeling “Wildcat” Marching Band has earned numerous Grand Champion, First Place, and Caption Awards over the past two decades including five titles in (2014). Mr. Logan has presided over the Chicagoland Marching Band Festival, Illinois oldest Marching Band Field Show Competition, for 25 years.
Mr. Logan’s work has been recognized by the United States Congress, Illinois State Senate, Quinlan and Fabish Music, Township High School District 214, East Maine School District 63, and Wheeling High School. The National Band Association has awarded Mr. Logan fourteen “Citation of Excellence” awards. He also received a Paul Harris Fellow from the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Mr. Logan was selected as the SBO Magazine State Representative in their “50 Directors That Make a Difference” issue, and received the Mr. Holland’s Opus Award from Bob Rogers Travel. Mr. Logan is also the recipient of the VanderCook College of Music Distinguished Alumni Award.
Mr. Logan received a Bachelor of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music and a Master of Educational Administration from Northeastern Illinois University. He is a member of IMEA, NAfME, NBA, JEN, and is also an active adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor.
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