Northeastern State University Jazz Lab

Arthur White

Arthur White is the Director of Jazz Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Northeastern State University. Originally from Kansas, Mr. White earned a BA in Music from Emporia State University, a MM in Jazz Pedagogy from West Virginia University, and will graduate in May 2008 with the Doctor of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music. Prior to his appointment at NSU, Mr. White taught at WVU, UNCG, Frostburg State University (MD) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His teachers include Dr. Steven Stusek, Curtis Johnson, Paul Scea, James Fleisher, and jazz legend Branford Marsalis. His dissertation is a harmonic analysis of the improvisations of jazz saxophone great Joe Henderson.

At NSU, Professor White directs the award-winning NSU Jazz Ensemble and NSU Jazz Band, jazz combos, teaches applied saxophone and jazz improvisation, and courses in jazz pedagogy, woodwind methods, classical composition and arranging, jazz composition and arranging, and rock music history. White is the musical director for the NSU Theatre Company, and the musical director for River City Players, NSU’s summer theatre/music revue. Recently, White was voted president-elect of the Oklahoma chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education, and was named the 2007 Oklahoma Jazz Educator of the year. He will also serve as the chairman for the 2009 and 2010 All-OMEA Jazz Ensemble.  

As a saxophonist and auxiliary musician, Mr. White is in demand as a freelance musician throughout the U.S. He has worked with many national artists including jazz greats Bob Mintzer, Ellis Marsalis, Dewey Redman, Louis Bellson, Byron Stripling, Ed Neumeister, and Dick Oatts, and pop/country acts including the Romantics, Foghat, Restless Heart, Shenandoah, Tom T. Hall, T. Graham Brown, and others. Mr. White was a featured soloist with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra/Carolina Pops 2003 tour. Mr. White was an invited soloist at the 2004 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and was an assistant host for the event. White has also performed in pit orchestras for numerous professional theatre companies throughout the country. Recently, White has performed with Mulgrew Miller, Henry Johnson, and Kevin Mahogany, among others, as an invited performer for the 2006 and 2007 world conferences for the International Society for Improvised Music, as an invited performer for the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and as a featured soloist for the musical Ella: the Life and Music of Ella Fitzgerald.

Professor White has recorded CDs with former Count Basie vocalist Chris Murrell, James Brown/Basie alumnus Fred Wesley, superstar guitarist Henry Johnson, trumpet guru Scott Wendholt, jazz legends Dewey Redman and Bobby Watson, and the UNCG Jazz Ensemble. He received a commission in 2004 to write a big band piece for Dewey Redman from the North American Saxophone Alliance. An accomplished composer/arranger, White has written for jazz luminaries Bobby Watson, Henry Johnson, Scott Wendholt, Mulgrew Miller, Kevin Mahogany, Bob Mintzer, Robin Eubanks, Paul Hanson, Kathy Kosins, Mike Mainieri, Peter Erskine, Byron Stripling, Eric Person and Dewey Redman. White is published by Second Floor Music and distributed by Hal Leonard, Inc.

White is the producer of the first internationally distributed original music CDs by any university jazz group in Oklahoma: the critically acclaimed albums Hour of the Pearl with Scott Wendholt, Appointment in Milano with Bobby Watson, and The Point with Henry Johnson. Recently, Appointment in Milano was named as a Blue Chip Award winner by Jazz Education Journal, naming the CD as one of the top ten university jazz CDs of 2006. Additionally, The Point was named to the allaboutjazz.com Best of 2007 Big Band CD List. White is a member of the International Association for Jazz Education, International Society for Improvised Music, North American Saxophone Alliance, Music Educators National Conference, Oklahoma Music Educators Association, College Music Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Kappa Kappa Psi.

Shane Ohlson

Shane Ohlson is a graduate of NSU and holds a degree in Music Business. While at NSU, his musical focus was primarily on classical and jazz piano, jazz composition and arranging, and arts management.  Ohlson has had the privilege to receive classical piano instruction from Edward Myers, Hazel Jane Bailey, and Dr. Ronald Chioldi.

As jazz pianist, Shane has performed with nationally known jazz artists such as saxophonist Jim Riggs, trumpeter Marvin Stamm, trombonist and composer/arranger Slide Hampton, drummer Jimmy Cobb (from Miles Davis), saxophonist and composer/arranger Bob Mintzer, drummer and composer/arranger Ed Soph, saxophonist and composer/arranger Bobby Watson, trombonist and composer Robin Eubanks, The Singing Policeman Daniel Rodriguez under the direction of world-renown jazz saxophonist and composer/conductor Tom Scott.  Shane has also had the privilege to receive instruction from national jazz pianists such as the late Frank Mantooth, Mulgrew Miller, and the late James Williams.

As keyboardist, Ohlson has performed in Seussical the Musical, Threepenny Opera, Nunsense, and Clue the Musical.  During the summer months, Shane serves NSU at the River City Players summer music review which is produced by NSUs The Sequoyah Institute in which he serves as keyboardist, musical arranger, and assistant musical director.

Ohlson is also a composer and arranger on call for clients hailing from all over the US including Oklahoma, extending to New Jersey, and reaching as far as Sylvania, Georgia. On occasion, Shane co-writes and arranges with Christian composer and arranger Brad Henderson of Hendersongs.  More often, Shane arranges for the online Christian music publishing company PraiseCharts.com.  To date, he has been responsible for adding more than 25 titles to the catalog.

In the recording field, Ohlson has performed on numerous nationally released albums. Shane served as arranger, keyboardist, and assistant engineer on the album Restless Spirit: A Tribute to the Songs of Bob Childers;  as co-musical producer, midi arranger, and keyboardist on the Cherokee National Youth Choir album Cherokee Sunday Morning; as assistant engineer on the NSU Jazz Ensemble album Hour of the Pearl; as co-producer and mixer on the NSU Jazz Ensemble album Appointment in Milano; and as co-producer, engineer, mixer, and performer (bonus track) on the NSU Jazz Ensemble Album The Point.

Shane Ohlson is also the coordinator for the Green Country Jazz Festival, now in its 41st year, held every Spring at Northeastern State University.  The Festival is the longest running college jazz festival in Oklahoma and brings in guests and performers from all over the Nation.

Ohlson is a member and has served as president of Xi Zeta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and is also an honorary member of the Alpha Rho chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi.