2024 Arkansas Jazz Camps

Embark on a captivating musical journey and immerse yourself in the vibrant world of Latin American and Caribbean rhythms! Join our unique program to explore the rich and diverse music of the African diaspora that has shaped the cultural landscape of these regions. Delve into the captivating history of Latin American and Caribbean music. Trace the roots of Afro-Latin rhythms and discover the compelling stories that have shaped the diverse musical traditions we celebrate today. This program is designed for music students with a passion for exploring the cultural and rhythmic wonders of Latin American and Caribbean music. At least one year of music study on your instrument or voice required.

Performance opportunities include traditional tunes, a descarga (jam), and Latin percussion pieces.

Experience the thrill of harmonizing in real-time with a live jazz ensemble! Dive into the heart of vocal jazz with Professor Lauren Clare who will bring out the best in every participant. From scat singing to dynamic ensemble performances, you’ll explore the rich world of jazz and contemporary vocal genres. Perfect for singers with at least one year of vocal experience, our camp is crafted to take your skills to the next level.

Are you ready to be part of the ultimate horn and rhythm experience? Join our big band ensemble for an unforgettable journey through the golden era of swing, jazz, and ensemble excellence. Our comprehensive curriculum covers techniques specific to big band arrangements, ensemble playing, and solo performances. This ensemble is open to students who play alto sax, tenor sax, bari sax, trumpet, trombone, guitar, piano, bass and drum set with at least 1-year experience in a public school band program. Students will perform various jazz styles using the iconic repertoire of artists such as: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Snarky Puppy, Buddy Rich, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane.

Richard Salonen is an instructor in the Music Department at the University of Arkansas. He received his doctoral degree in Higher Education and MM degree in composition from the University of Arkansas. His BME degree in secondary music education is from Central Michigan University. Dr. Salonen worked for many years as a professional composer/arranger. He has written over 200 pieces for church orchestra with other musical works for choir, brass quintet, handbells, voice, big band, television, and radio.

Over the years Dr. Salonen has participated in several professional recordings released on compact disc, and is a published song writer through BMI and CCLI publishing companies. As an active professional saxophonist, he has played with such touring shows as Grease, the Rat Pack and the Tommy Dorsey Big Band. He is a member of the Stockholm Jazz Quartet and performer/composer with the Fayetteville Jazz Collective big band. He has recently been awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the Arkansas Arts Council for music composition.

Dr. Salonen’s classroom teaching experience includes such courses as Basic Musicianship, Music Theory I & II, Music Lecture, Jazz History, Composition, Improvisation, Aural Perception I-IV, Music Technology I & II, and Orchestration. Also, he is currently an online instructor for the Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences and the Global Campus School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach.

Susumu Watanabe was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, a Master of Fine Arts in Composition from City University of New York and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Composition from University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

He has been serving as a music director for many ensembles, including Fenway Brass Art Orchestra, UMASS Jazz Lab Ensemble, UMASS Jazz Ensemble I/Studio Orchestra, Bay Colony Brass and UNL Big Band, and Tokyo Brass Art Orchestra. He appeared as a guest conductor for the U.S. Army Field Band Jazz Ambassadors and Vermont Jazz Center Big Band.

His works for jazz orchestra are performed in the U.S., Taiwan and Japan. Recently Watanabe’s wind ensemble composition With All Sails Set won the first prize and was chosen to be a contest piece for the Japan National Symphonic Jazz and Pops Contest for Wind Ensemble 2019. It was premiered by the Japan Ground Self Defense Force Eastern Army Band under the direction of Lt. Cmdr. Yoshiyuki Kato. His works are not only for jazz ensemble, but also for various chamber ensembles, wind ensemble and symphonic orchestra.

He previously taught at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia University, Nebraska.

A native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Lauren Nicole Clare is a vocalist, songwriter, producer, pianist, and educator. She began her professional career as a vocalist in 2001 when she gave a solo recital for the Carol Brice Series at age seventeen. After pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at Oral Roberts University, Lauren returned home to sing as a chorus member for the Cimarron Opera Company’s summer production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. That fall, Lauren began studies as a lyric coloratura soprano at the esteemed Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University where she graduated with high honors in the Master of Music degree program for vocal performance. After graduating with her masters in 2007, Lauren began working as the vocalist for a local jazz trio and serving as vocal coach within the Miss OCU organization. In addition, she opened a private home voice studio and worked as a choral liaison for the Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain.

In 2009, Lauren moved to the Fayetteville, Arkansas area and began working as a local singer/songwriter under the pseudonym Ren. In 2011, she formed what is now known as The Allie Lauren Project. The Allie Lauren Project is an avant-garde collective of classical, alternative, and jazz musicians and has performed for The Oklahoma Film & Music Office SXSW Film Panel Event, Tourism Roadshows, Norman Music Festival, 35 Denton, Backwoods Music Festival, Sunday Twilight Concert Series, Wheeler Summer Music Series, Oklahoma City’s New Year’s Opening Night Celebrations as well as other numerous performances for the Oklahoma City Arts Council. Lauren has also performed works from this project in Chicago, St. Louis, New York City, and London. In 2018, The Allie Lauren Project was nominated for a regional Emmy award by the Heartland Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for their work with Outsiders Productions and The Grand Casino Hotel & Resort’s Play It Loud Season II.

In addition to her work for The Allie Lauren Project, Lauren also spent many years teaching private voice and piano lessons, she has written and produced works for hip-hop artist Jabee & spent time performing for Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra events. In 2019, she collaborated with her tribe, The Chickasaw Nation, in the production of her composition which was featured as the theme song for the nation’s annual meeting. Lauren has also performed alongside jazz heavyweights Michael Wolff, Dave Liebman, and Alexa Tarantino. Most recently, Lauren debuted a second project devoted to her love of jazz entitled Coloring Twelve. The collective debuted as a part of the Walton Arts Center’s Artosphere Festival on May 5, 2023. 

The auditory landscape which Lauren creates is vast and carries her fingerprint in every moment. She is constantly exploring. Her art has landed her on many museum stages in the region, most notably The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, The Momentary, and the world-renowned Crystal Bridges Museum on several occasions.  In 2020, she achieved a longtime dream of teaching at the university level. Currently, Lauren serves as instructor of voice at the University of Arkansas specializing in both classical & jazz studies. She also directs the Songwriter’s Ensemble, is the founder and director of VOICES vocal jazz ensemble, and is a member of the Jazz Educators Network, the National Association of Teachers of Singing and The Recording Academy.

Fernando Valencia is a Percussion Instructor and the Director of the Latin American Music Ensemble at the University of Arkansas. After graduating with a B.M. from the Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia) and a M.M. from The University of Arkansas under the guidance of Chalon Ragsdale, he later went on to Temple University to obtain the Professional Certificate of Studies with Alan Abel of The Philadelphia Orchestra. While on the East coast, Professor Valencia was a Percussion Associate Faculty at the Settlement Music School of Philadelphia and performed with several well known Latin artists such as Orlando Fiol, Edgar Maldonado (Celia Cruz’s band), Frankie Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Colón among others. He has also taught percussion at the Northwest Arkansas Community College, Conservatorio del Tolima and has been frequently invited to the Conservatorio Adolfo Mejía in Cartagena-Colombia. Additional education includes Afro-Cuban drumming studies at the Instituto Superior de Artes in Havana, Cuba. Some of his commercial compositions have been broadcast on television in Norway, Finland, UK and on VH1 channel in the US. Formerly the principal percussionist of the National Wind Symphony of Colombia, he has also performed with The Youth Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, Bogota Philharmonic, Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, Arkansas Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and currently with The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Arkansas Philharmonic, Opera Fayetteville and Fayetteville Jazz Collective. He has recorded extensively in Colombia and the U.S. and has participated in Latin Grammy nominated and nationally broadcast recordings in the popular and classical arenas. Prof. Valencia is a Gon Bops percussion artist.