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For decades, Jerry E. Lewis inspired thousands of students as a passionate music educator, performer, and mentor. His impact stretched beyond the classroom, shaping the futures of countless young musicians. We pay tribute to him with this noncompetitive jazz festival.
When: Saturday, January 24, 2026
Where: Joliet West High School. 401 N Larkin Ave, Joliet, IL 60435
12pm Concert/Celebration: The Shawn Maxwell band performs along with other clinicians as special guests. All participating students are invited to join us on stage to perform a Maxwell original and possible improvised solo.
To Purchase Concert Tickets Click Here
To Purchase T-Shirts Click Here
Where: Joliet West High School. 401 N Larkin Ave, Joliet, IL 60435
12pm Concert/Celebration: The Shawn Maxwell band performs along with other clinicians as special guests. All participating students are invited to join us on stage to perform a Maxwell original and possible improvised solo.
To Purchase Concert Tickets Click Here
To Purchase T-Shirts Click Here
PARTICIPATING BANDS
LINCOLN WAY WEST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND 2
MINOOKA COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LAKE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND 1
ROMEOVILLE HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
WESTVIEW HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY EAST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ORCHESTRA
NAPERVILLE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
BATAVIA HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
OAK PRAIRIE JUNIOR HIGH JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY EAST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ENSEMBLE
NAPERVILLE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
JOLIET WEST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY WEST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND 2
MINOOKA COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LAKE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND 1
ROMEOVILLE HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
WESTVIEW HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY EAST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ORCHESTRA
NAPERVILLE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
BATAVIA HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
OAK PRAIRIE JUNIOR HIGH JAZZ BAND
LINCOLN WAY EAST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ENSEMBLE
NAPERVILLE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
JOLIET WEST HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
2026 Clinicians
Shawn Maxwell's journey in music began in Joliet, IL, through local school music programs and continued with a Music B.A. from Millikin University. Over the last 25 years, he’s been a notable presence on Chicago’s music scene and has toured across the U.S., developing a distinct voice on the saxophone. Since his debut album of original compositions in 2005 through to J Town Suite in 2023, Shawn has crafted a unique sound rooted in jazz and influenced by rock, funk, hip-hop, R&B, and classical music—the music he grew up with.
Shawn's work has earned praise and radio play worldwide, including “Best Album of the Year” mentions and “Editor’s Picks” in Downbeat Magazine, as well as positive reviews in the Chicago Tribune, Jazz Times, Cadence Magazine, and AllAboutJazz. His recordings have reached the top of the JazzWeek and College Music Journal Jazz charts. His albums have showcased various groups, from quartets to his larger ten-piece ensemble, Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance. His 2021 release, Expectation & Experience, featured collaborations with 29 musicians recorded remotely.
As an artist with Vandoren and Conn-Selmer, Shawn’s Master Classes and guest appearances are popular with students of all ages, combining his teaching skills with his experience as a performer.
shawnmaxwell.com
Shawn's work has earned praise and radio play worldwide, including “Best Album of the Year” mentions and “Editor’s Picks” in Downbeat Magazine, as well as positive reviews in the Chicago Tribune, Jazz Times, Cadence Magazine, and AllAboutJazz. His recordings have reached the top of the JazzWeek and College Music Journal Jazz charts. His albums have showcased various groups, from quartets to his larger ten-piece ensemble, Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance. His 2021 release, Expectation & Experience, featured collaborations with 29 musicians recorded remotely.
As an artist with Vandoren and Conn-Selmer, Shawn’s Master Classes and guest appearances are popular with students of all ages, combining his teaching skills with his experience as a performer.
shawnmaxwell.com
Glenn Williams retired in May of 2021 from Downers Grove South High School, having served as a music teacher and the Fine Arts Department Chair since 2005. In addition to teaching and holding arts administration leadership roles at Highland Park High School (IL) and in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Williams also was on the brass/jazz faculty of the Indiana University Summer Music Clinic, and was a member of the jazz faculty and co-coordinator of the Jazz Division at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, leading the International Jazz Ensemble on European Tours in 2014 and 2017. Mr. Williams holds degrees from Indiana University, Northwestern University and Concordia University. Mr. Williams has completed coursework towards a DMA in Wind Conducting at Michigan State University. From 2009-2019, Mr. Williams held a National Board Teaching Certification.
Mr. Williams is currently supervising student teachers for DePaul University and the University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana. Mr. Williams traveled to Cuba in January of 2024 as a Teaching Artist with the Cuban American Youth Orchestra (CAYO) working with student and adult musicians in Havana and Matanzas. Covering a sabbatical leave, Mr. Williams is conducting the Wind Symphony at Northern Illinois University during the spring semester of 2025.
As a professional performer, Mr. Williams has performed with numerous entertainment and jazz luminaries, including The Four Tops, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Michael Brecker, Kenny Wheeler, and the Blue Lake Faculty Jazz Sextet. Mr. Williams has also performed with numerous community ensembles including the North Shore Concert Band directed by John Paynter. In the summer of 1984 Mr. Williams was a member of the Walt Disney World All-American College Marching Band.
Mr. Williams has conducted numerous band and jazz honor ensembles, including the Illinois All-State Jazz Ensemble (2014) and the North Carolina All-State HS Jazz Ensemble (2022.) Mr. Williams helped initiate the BRIDGE program, an ILMEA professional development strand equipping first year music teachers in Illinois. Mr. Williams received the Mary Hoffman Award of Excellence from ILMEA in 2017. Mr. Williams led the process to commission Tricycle by Andrew Boysen to celebrate the consolidation of North Shore District 112.
Mr. Williams expresses deep gratitude to all the teachers, students, colleagues and friends who continually inform his identity as a human, as an artist, and as an educator.
Mr. Williams is currently supervising student teachers for DePaul University and the University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana. Mr. Williams traveled to Cuba in January of 2024 as a Teaching Artist with the Cuban American Youth Orchestra (CAYO) working with student and adult musicians in Havana and Matanzas. Covering a sabbatical leave, Mr. Williams is conducting the Wind Symphony at Northern Illinois University during the spring semester of 2025.
As a professional performer, Mr. Williams has performed with numerous entertainment and jazz luminaries, including The Four Tops, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Michael Brecker, Kenny Wheeler, and the Blue Lake Faculty Jazz Sextet. Mr. Williams has also performed with numerous community ensembles including the North Shore Concert Band directed by John Paynter. In the summer of 1984 Mr. Williams was a member of the Walt Disney World All-American College Marching Band.
Mr. Williams has conducted numerous band and jazz honor ensembles, including the Illinois All-State Jazz Ensemble (2014) and the North Carolina All-State HS Jazz Ensemble (2022.) Mr. Williams helped initiate the BRIDGE program, an ILMEA professional development strand equipping first year music teachers in Illinois. Mr. Williams received the Mary Hoffman Award of Excellence from ILMEA in 2017. Mr. Williams led the process to commission Tricycle by Andrew Boysen to celebrate the consolidation of North Shore District 112.
Mr. Williams expresses deep gratitude to all the teachers, students, colleagues and friends who continually inform his identity as a human, as an artist, and as an educator.
Nils Higdon is one of Chicago’s most prominent young percussionists, having performed at the United Center, Orchestra Hall, The Green Mill, The Logan Center for the Arts, The Chicago Cultural Center, The Jazz Showcase, Pritzker Pavillion at Millenium Park, and six appearances at the Chicago Jazz Festival. While specializing in drum set and improvised music, Nils is also versed in a wide variety of percussion instruments including latin percussion, classical percussion, and vibraphone. Currently Nils leads a jazz duo project with Andy Schlinder, and works with saxophonist Shawn Maxwell. Additionally, he plays the music of Spain and Latin America with Hector Fernandez, and leads the Flourish Ensemble, a group in which he plays vibraphone and writes all of the music.
As an instructor, Nils teaches applied percussion lessons at Riverside-Brookfield High School and Ridgewood High School. He routinely writes compositions and arrangements for his students and has completed an original teaching manual, Percussion Practicing Guidebook. Nils has also been a teaching artist for the Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project and, on multiple occasions, a percussion judge for the Illinois Music Education Association, District 1. Under his
instruction, students of his have earned positions in ILMEA Jazz Ensemble 1, and the Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage. During the 2024-2025 school year, both of the drum set players at the prestigious Merit School of Music were students of his. Former students of his have been accepted to and earned scholarships from the music schools of Elmhurst College, Roosevelt University, North Central College, University of Illinois, Concordia, and Northwestern University.
Nils Higdon is also the survivor of a serious injury to both of his hands, and a severe disorder of the nervous system.
His favorite expression is “You get to live on Earth- WHAT A LOCATION!”
As an instructor, Nils teaches applied percussion lessons at Riverside-Brookfield High School and Ridgewood High School. He routinely writes compositions and arrangements for his students and has completed an original teaching manual, Percussion Practicing Guidebook. Nils has also been a teaching artist for the Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project and, on multiple occasions, a percussion judge for the Illinois Music Education Association, District 1. Under his
instruction, students of his have earned positions in ILMEA Jazz Ensemble 1, and the Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage. During the 2024-2025 school year, both of the drum set players at the prestigious Merit School of Music were students of his. Former students of his have been accepted to and earned scholarships from the music schools of Elmhurst College, Roosevelt University, North Central College, University of Illinois, Concordia, and Northwestern University.
Nils Higdon is also the survivor of a serious injury to both of his hands, and a severe disorder of the nervous system.
His favorite expression is “You get to live on Earth- WHAT A LOCATION!”
Fascinated by many modes of creativity, Janelle Finton is a trumpeter, vocalist, composer, and poet who approaches music making and storytelling with wonder.
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, Janelle has a diverse musical background in the traditions of classical, jazz, contemporary, theater, and sacred music. Elements of all these styles blend together in her performing and writing to create her unique sound of a warm and clear tone on the trumpet, lush orchestration in her arranging, technical virtuosity and conversational intimacy in her voice, vulnerability in her lyrics, and intentionality in her melodies, within both her compositions and improvisation.
She has played with groups such as the Maria Schneider Orchestra as a featured vocalist at Ravinia and the Elmhurst Jazz Festival, the Grace Fox Big Band at Birdland, and Dizzy’s Club in NY, the John Daversa Big Band at the Baked Potato in LA and the Jazz Education Network Conference, and the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra. In spring 2024 she debuted her own group, joygarden, that combines elements of folk, jazz, and chamber music.
Janelle has been nationally recognized as a musician, being selected for groups such as the JAS Aspen Academy Big Band directed by Christian McBride, and NYO Jazz, where she performed at Carnegie Hall and toured Europe and Asia with Sean Jones, Dianne Reeves, and Kurt Elling. As a composer, Janelle has been recognized by Downbeat, the American Composer’s Forum, and has charts published through Brava Jazz, and Anchor Music.
janellefinton.com
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, Janelle has a diverse musical background in the traditions of classical, jazz, contemporary, theater, and sacred music. Elements of all these styles blend together in her performing and writing to create her unique sound of a warm and clear tone on the trumpet, lush orchestration in her arranging, technical virtuosity and conversational intimacy in her voice, vulnerability in her lyrics, and intentionality in her melodies, within both her compositions and improvisation.
She has played with groups such as the Maria Schneider Orchestra as a featured vocalist at Ravinia and the Elmhurst Jazz Festival, the Grace Fox Big Band at Birdland, and Dizzy’s Club in NY, the John Daversa Big Band at the Baked Potato in LA and the Jazz Education Network Conference, and the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra. In spring 2024 she debuted her own group, joygarden, that combines elements of folk, jazz, and chamber music.
Janelle has been nationally recognized as a musician, being selected for groups such as the JAS Aspen Academy Big Band directed by Christian McBride, and NYO Jazz, where she performed at Carnegie Hall and toured Europe and Asia with Sean Jones, Dianne Reeves, and Kurt Elling. As a composer, Janelle has been recognized by Downbeat, the American Composer’s Forum, and has charts published through Brava Jazz, and Anchor Music.
janellefinton.com
Chuck Morgan is a Grammy nominated, award-winning music educator. He holds the position of Professor of Music, the Music Coordinator, and Director of Bands and Brass at Joliet Junior College. Born and raised in New Lenox, Illinois, Chuck started playing the trombone at age 8. He received his Associate of Arts degree from Joliet Junior College in 1991 and his Bachelor of Music emphasis ineducation from Northern Illinois University in 1993. Chuck received his Master of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music in 2003.
As a performer, he has been a member of The Buckinghams since 1997, and has shared the stage with many notable artists including: Felix Cavalieri and the Rascals, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, The Grass Roots, The Ides of March, Jay and the Americans, Lou Christie, Dennis Tuffano, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, CTA featuring Danny Seraphin and Bill Champlain, Bobby Rydell, The New Invaders, and The Buddy Rich Big Band Machine. With The Buckinghams, he has appeared on Good Morning America, NBC Concerts at Noon, WGN; recorded a special for PBS “60's Pop Rock Reunion” released on CD/DVD by Time Life; and performed at both the 55th and 56th Presidential Inaugurations in Washington D.C. He can also be heard on their recordings “Yesterday, Today,” “Live and Well,” “Standing Room Only,” “Reaching Back,” “Gold,” “The Joy of Christmas,” their CD/DVD “Up Close,” and most recently he appeared on the WTTW special concert series "Cornerstones of Rock", which aired nationally and has been released on CD/DVD.
As an arranger/composer, Chuck has several Jazz Ensemble charts, Brass Quintet, and Concert Band pieces to his name. He has also collaborated as the horn arranger for The Buckinghams’ recordings “Reaching Back,” “The Joy of Christmas,” “Flashback,” and their latest album “Gold.”
Chuck plays Getzen trombones and is honored to be a Getzen Clinician. Recently, he has been added tothe Etymotic “ETY•Heads” team promoting their line of music hearing protection.
As a performer, he has been a member of The Buckinghams since 1997, and has shared the stage with many notable artists including: Felix Cavalieri and the Rascals, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, The Grass Roots, The Ides of March, Jay and the Americans, Lou Christie, Dennis Tuffano, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, CTA featuring Danny Seraphin and Bill Champlain, Bobby Rydell, The New Invaders, and The Buddy Rich Big Band Machine. With The Buckinghams, he has appeared on Good Morning America, NBC Concerts at Noon, WGN; recorded a special for PBS “60's Pop Rock Reunion” released on CD/DVD by Time Life; and performed at both the 55th and 56th Presidential Inaugurations in Washington D.C. He can also be heard on their recordings “Yesterday, Today,” “Live and Well,” “Standing Room Only,” “Reaching Back,” “Gold,” “The Joy of Christmas,” their CD/DVD “Up Close,” and most recently he appeared on the WTTW special concert series "Cornerstones of Rock", which aired nationally and has been released on CD/DVD.
As an arranger/composer, Chuck has several Jazz Ensemble charts, Brass Quintet, and Concert Band pieces to his name. He has also collaborated as the horn arranger for The Buckinghams’ recordings “Reaching Back,” “The Joy of Christmas,” “Flashback,” and their latest album “Gold.”
Chuck plays Getzen trombones and is honored to be a Getzen Clinician. Recently, he has been added tothe Etymotic “ETY•Heads” team promoting their line of music hearing protection.