PLU Weathermon Jazz Festival

Kate Olson is an improvising saxophonist and music educator based in Seattle, WA. She can be heard performing with her own projects KO SOLO and KO ELECTRIC, and as a collaborator with Syrinx Effect, Ask the Ages, the Seattle Rock Orchestra, the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble and Electric Circus (led by Wayne Horvitz), the Seattle Jazz Composer’s Ensemble and with such Seattle staples as the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses and cabaret producers Can Can Presents and Verlaine & McCann. Kate has a BA in Music (Jazz Emphasis) from the University of Wyoming and an MM in Improvisation from the University of Michigan. Kate’s international resume continues to grow, including performances in Russia, Latvia, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Cuba, and Slovakia. She has appeared on stage with Terry Riley, Stuart Dempster, Pauline Oliveros, Allison Miller, Bobby Previte, Skerik, Patricia Barber and pop music icons Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, Sir Mix-a-lot, Matt Cameron, and Big Star’s Third (featuring members of REM, the Posies, and Nada Surf) among others. Kate was nominated in 2011 and 2013 for the Earshot Golden Ear Award in the Emerging Artist category, and in 2014 and 2016, she was nominated for the Best NW Instrumentalist Category, and in 2016 her band KO Ensemble was also nominated as best NW Alternative Group. In 2019, KO Ensemble won a Golden Ear Award for Best Acoustic Ensemble.

Dr. Don Norton is an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Portland. As a saxophonist and woodwind artist, he has performed throughout the United States and abroad in a variety of styles that include jazz, classical, world music, and musical theater. He also serves as a clinician with the Vandoren Artist-Clinician Program and has presented at conferences of the Jazz Education Network, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the Oregon Music Education Association. He holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado, the New England Conservatory of Music, and Northern Illinois University.

Louisville, Kentucky native Conner Eisenmenger is a newcomer to the Seattle area scene, and he seems to make a friend everywhere he goes. Always searching for ways to live a music-filled life, Conner keeps a busy schedule as a composer, bandleader, and clinician. Conner has performed with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, the NY Afro Bop Alliance, The Harry James Orchestra, Johnny Mathis, The Abilene Philharmonic, and more. In 2022 he received the ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award for his piece, “Choice Paralysis,” played by his 5-piece ensemble, the Think Tank. Before moving out West, Conner earned a bachelor’s degree at Western Kentucky University and received a master of music in jazz studies from the University of North Texas where he played for two years in the grammy-nominated One O’clock Lab Band and served as a teaching fellow. KNKX describes Conner’s passion for a life in music as “infectious in the best way.”

Clipper Anderson is one of the Northwest’s leading bassists. Known for his improvisational virtuosity, his steady presence in the groove pocket and his command of multiple styles, bassist Clipper Anderson is one of the most highly regarded musicians on the Northwest jazz scene today. Equally comfortable with straight-ahead, traditional, free jazz or bebop, he plays with genuine reverence for the music and an unassuming mastery that speaks for itself. Clipper has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a composer, performer, studio musician, vocalist and educator. He plays at jazz festivals throughout the United States and Canada and has appeared at the Port Townsend Jazz Festival, the Highland Jazz Festival, the Fairbanks Summer Art Festival, the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation Festival, the Blaine Jazz Festival and the Buddy DeFranco/University of Montana Jazz Festival, the latter four of which he plays annually. He has shared the bandstand with a long list of jazz luminaries including Michael Brecker, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Samuels, Peter Erskine, Bruce Forman, Tamir Hendelman, Bob Mintzer, Lew Soloff, Bucky Pizzarelli, Benny Golson, Paquito D’Rivera, Phil Woods and Buddy DeFranco. As a session musician, Clipper has appeared on numerous recordings, including five with Northwest vocal icon Greta Matassa. Clipper’s 2012 CD “The Road Home,” marked his debut as a solo artist and composer and held the top 20-22 spots on the national jazz radio charts for several months.

Mark Ivester is a versatile drummer and percussionist with extensive experience playing a variety of musical genres from rock to jazz to orchestral music. Mark has performed with numerous jazz artists of international stature including Larry Coryell, Freddie Hubbard, Diane Schuur, Mose Allison, Charlie Byrd and Eartha Kitt. He currently performs and records with the Jovino Santos Neto Quartet, Greta Matassa and Susan Pascal. Ivester has also performed with the Honolulu, Spokane and Walla Walla symphony orchestras. Ivester is a founding member of the professional percussion ensemble Happy Hammers, a group that performs a broad cross-section of percussion music of various ethnic origins including the steel drums from Trinidad, African drumming of the Ewe and Yoruba tribes, Afro-Cuban drumming, Brazilian sambas, and jazz for mallet keyboard instruments. Ivester earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastern Washington University, and he did undergraduate and graduate work in ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii that included field study in gamelan music on the island of Java.