Jacob Dalager, D.M.A
Dr. Jacob Dalager is a crossover artist, award-winning composer, and Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Jazz at New Mexico State University. As director of jazz, Dalager brought the NMSU Jazz Ensemble to the 2022 Roswell Jazz Fest, where the band performed with legends Houston Person, Chuck Redd, and Dan Barrett. He has also initiated Studio Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Lab Band, Southwest Honor Jazz Band, and Southwest Essentially Ellington Festival while also expanding students’ improvisational proficiency with Jazz Masterclasses and combos. Carrying on NMSU’s Jazz Jumpstart Festival tradition, Dalager has brought in bands from throughout the region to work with renowned clinicians, including Bobby Shew, Owen Broder, Terell Stafford, Raffy Bushman, Steve Cardenas, and Ben Allison. As a jazz musician, Dalager plays with the Border Jazz Orchestra and founded the NMSU Faculty Jazz Combo. He has shared the stage with jazz greats such as James Morrison, Wayne Bergeron, Alexa Tarantino, Charles Pillow, Chris Vidala, and Mike Nelson. Jacob headlined the 2022 FIMUS jazz festival in Brazil and has also performed at the Singapore International and World Youth Jazz Festivals.
Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.
Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. is the Trombone Professor at New Mexico State University, where he also teaches courses in music education, orchestration, history of jazz and improvisation. Dr. Kaplan's education included Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Ph.D. in Music Education from New York University. Presently he is Principal Trombone of the Las Cruces Symphony and a member of the El Paso Brass Quintet. From 1975-1989 he was Principal Trombone of the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra. Previous to that position he performed in Broadway musicals, as Solo Trombone of the Goldman Band, at Lincoln Center, and was a member of the New York Brass Choir. In addition, Dr. Kaplan has a strong background as a public school music educator. He has represented NMSU as a clinician and performing artist throughout Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California.
Dr. Kaplan has recorded on the Angel label with Maestro Herrera de la Fuente, on the MENC video series "The Worlds Greatest Music", on various labels with the Goldman Band, with the Light Fantastic Players, and with Richie Havens.
In the commercial field he has performed with artists such as Lena Horne, Burt Bacharach, Sammy Davis, Jr., Henry Mancini, Mel Torme, Cher, The Oak Ridge Boys, Peggy Lee and Sarah Vaughan. In 2006 he was a member of the Orchestra at the Mendocino Music Festival in Northern California. In 2001 Kaplan was invited to NYC with the Creole Trio, to an audition for the State Department's Jazz Ambassador program. Look for Dr. Kaplan's chapter on the trombone section in the jazz band in the recently published "Jazz Pedagogy: The Jazz Educator's Handbook and Resource Guide" by Warner Brothers, edited by Dr. Willie Hill Jr. He is a member of A.S.C.A.P. and a clinician for Edwards Instrument Co. For more information on Dr. Kaplan visit his website.
About the Jazz Clinicians
Josh Carter, saxophone
Josh Carter is a tenor saxophonist from Alamogordo, NM. He studied music at New Mexico State University and graduated in 2016. He finished his Master's degree at SUNY Purchase College in New York in 2021 where he studied with the great baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan. He is currently playing gigs around the Las Cruces/El Paso area.
Dr. Christian Chesanek, bass
Dr. Christian Chesanek is a bassist, composer, arranger, educator, freelance musician, and luthier in the El Paso, Texas region. Dr. Chesanek’s previous education consists of a Commercial music degree from the University of Texas at El Paso under Erik Unsworth, a MM in Double bass performance from Ithaca College under Nicholas Walker, and a DMA in Jazz studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under Dr. Hans Sturm. He has worked with internationally acclaimed artists such as Francois Rabbath, Mark Dresser, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Hakon Thelin, Victor Lewis, Donny McCaslin, Joel Quarrington, and Lynn Seaton. Dr. Chesanek is currently an educator in the El Paso Independent School district as a 5 th grade orchestra instructor.
Miguel Torres, piano
Miguel Torres, an El Paso native, moved to Las Cruces in 1999 to pursue a degree in Computer Science. During his time at NMSU he played in the Jazz Bands, Marching Band, and the Roadrunner Revue Pep Band. He grew up playing in his family band, La Ritmera Garcia composed of his grandparents and aunts and uncles.
Since then, he has played with various groups in the area: Footprints, Border Jazz Quintet, Border Jazz Orchestra, Soledad Canyon Quintet, Derrick Lee Trio, Lush Life Quintet, and many more Jazz combos and ensembles. He is keeping the family tradition alive by playing in the group, UnLyshed. Miguel has also played with Play Me-The Music of Neil Diamond and Remember Then-A Class Act.
Miguel leads the Worship Team at Sierra Vista Community Church. He is also the husband to a talented saxophonist and teacher, and father to an up and coming vocalist, a drummer in training, and a blossoming dancer.
Brian Wright, drums
Appreciated for his deep sense of musicality, tastefulness, and creativity on the drum set and in his compositions, Brian Wright has been somewhat of a musical chameleon, performing and recording with ensembles spanning across a wide spectrum of genres from swinging straight ahead jazz to experimental avant-garde improvised music to mainstream pop and rock. As a freelance session musician, Brian has recorded on over 50 albums, soundtracks, and television commercials.
He holds a master’s degree in jazz studies from California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with renowned jazz drummer Joe La Barbera, bassists Charlie Haden and Darek Oles, guitarists Larry Koonse and Steve Cardenas, avant-garde trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, pianists David Roitsten and Alan Pasqua, and others. Brian also holds a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, where he studied with saxophonists Geof Bradfield, Horace Alexander-Young, Greg Yasinistky, percussionist Dave Jarvis, pianist Charles Argersinger, and others. Having performed and adjudicated at jazz festivals and universities, Brian has recorded in studios throughout the U.S., including work with Grammy Award-winning producers and engineers.
From 2012-2017, Brian was a recording and touring member of pop band Pure Bathing Culture, where he toured throughout North America and Europe as a headlining act as well as opening for internationally-recognized bands. In 2022, Brian relocated to New Mexico, where he has been a guest artist, clinician, and part-time instructor at New Mexico State University where he teaches drum set lessons and leads a jazz combo. Most recently, Brian performed with New York trumpeter Terell Stafford and UK-based pianist Raffy Bushman for the 2022 NMSU Jumpstart Jazz Festival.
