Adjudicators and Clinicians in 2024
Pete Madsen - Clinician for High School and Middle School Jazz Ensembles
Dr. Madsen received a bachelor of science degree in music education from the University of Missouri, a master of music degree from Northern Illinois University, and a doctor of musical arts degree in trombone performance from the University of Illinois. Dr. Madsen's duties at UNO include directing the jazz ensembles and jazz combos, coordinating the UNO Great Plains Jazz Festival, and the UNO Jazz Camp and teaching applied low brass, low brass ensemble, and improvisation. He has performed extensively in jazz, pop, and classical venues, having played with Bill Watrous, Pete Christlieb, Aretha Franklin, Frank Valli, the Jim Widner Big Band, the Omaha Big Band, the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, the Omaha Jazz Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony, the Omaha Symphony, the Omaha Brass Ensemble, and the Missouri Symphony Society. Dr. Madsen is also in high demand as a guest artist/clinician and has performed and/or adjudicated throughout the United States and in Europe, Japan, and Brazil.
Dr. Madsen has performed and presented clinics at the Eastern Trombone Workshop, the Midwest Clinic, and the International Association for Jazz Education International Conference. The Continental Trombone Quartet has also performed in Spain, Mexico, Brazil, China, and Canada. Dr. Madsen can be heard on Summit Records with The Big Bad Bones, Chase Records with The Jim Widner Big Band, Nonesuch Records with Connor Oberst and Albany Records with The Continental Trombone Quartet. Dr. Madsen is a Getzen Artist/Clinician.
Clarence Smith - Adjudicator for High School and Middle School Jazz Ensembles
He is coordinator/instructor of music at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley campus, with specific expertise in jazz education, percussion, and music appreciation. Smith is a frequent guest director of honors jazz ensembles, and is in demand as a jazz/percussion clinician and adjudicator. He is director of the annual three-day 18th and Vine Student Jazz Festival.
As a drummer, Smith is an active participant in the Kansas City music scene where he can be heard performing in a variety of genres including jazz, classical, musical theatre, and R&B and other pop styles.
Ryan Heinlein - Adjudicator for High School and Middle School Jazz Ensembles
Dr. Ryan Heinlein is an Associate Professor of Music at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas where he directs the jazz and concert bands. Dr. Heinlein also serves as department chair to music, theater and recording arts. He holds degrees in trombone performance from Wichita State University and the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Ryan serves as the jazz education advisor to the Kansas Music Educator’s Association and is a highly sought after adjudicator and clinician. Ryan remains an active performer around the Midwest. His versatility has allowed him to play with groups such as the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, the Marcus Lewis Big Band, Ana Gasteyer, Michael Feinstein, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Harry James Orchestra, the Buckinghams, the Four Tops, Frankie Negron, Making Movies and The Four Freshmen. Ryan has also released four recordings of original music with his group, The Project H. Ryan is a Conn-Selmer endorsing artist.
Mark Benson - Clinician for High School and Middle School Jazz Ensembles
Mark Benson is an adjunct professor of music at Peru State College where he directs
the Peru State Jazz Ensemble and is the applied woodwind instructor, and at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha where he works with music education students.
He is also the conductor of the Intergeneration Orchestra of Omaha. Previously he
was the director of Instrumental Music at Mission Middle School in Bellevue, NE.
He is a saxophonist with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and performed with them at
the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1997. He is also a clarinetist with the Lincoln
Municipal Band and is a member of the saxophone quartet Group Sax. He has
performed with the Count Basie Orchestra, the Temptations, Johnny Mathis, and is
an active freelance musician in the Omaha, Nebraska area.
His compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Nebraska Jazz
Orchestra, the U. S. Air Force Heartland of America Band and Paul Shaffer among
others. He is also active as a clinician and adjudicator.
Mark holds degrees from Northern Illinois University and the University of
Nebraska at Lincoln.
Bob Krueger - Adjudicator for High School Jazz Ensembles
A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (B.M.E in 1984 and M.M. in 1994), Mr. Krueger retired in the summer of 2020 after spending 36 years teaching music for the Omaha and Lincoln Public Schools. Following one year as the Director of Instrumental Music at Omaha North High School, Mr. Krueger became the Instrumental Music Director at Lincoln Southeast High School in 1985. For 10 years Mr. Krueger taught the Southeast Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, and Music Theory. For the last 25 years of his career Mr. Krueger directed Jazz Ensembles I and II and the Jazz Combo at Lincoln Southeast High School, as well as teaching 5th grade bands at Beattie, Kloefkorn and Maxey Elementary schools in Lincoln. Under his leadership the Southeast Jazz Ensemble I received both regional and national acclaim, including being named Outstanding Band at the KU Jazz Festival every year they attended, and being selected to perform in New York City as one of 20 national finalists in the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition. In 1988 he received the Nebraska State Bandmasters Jack Snider Award, in 1989 he received the Stanbury Award as the nation’s outstanding young high school band director from the American School Band Directors Association, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln named Mr. Krueger the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award in Music in the spring of 2020.
In addition to his teaching duties at the Lincoln Public Schools, from 2001-2004 Mr. Krueger was the interim Director of Jazz Activities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he directed the UN-L Jazz Ensemble I. He served as the brass coach (1987-2001), assistant conductor (2001-2002), and from 2004-2007 was the Music Director of the Lincoln Youth Symphony. In 2005 Mr. Krueger took the Lincoln Youth Symphony on a concert tour of Austria, with performances in Vienna, Salzburg, Graz, and Innsbruck. After retiring from LPS, Mr. Krueger served for two years as the director of the Doane University Jazz Ensemble, and in the fall of 2023 served as the substitute director of the Metropolitan Area Youth Jazz Orchestra.
Mr. Krueger serves as the conductor for the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra for their annual performance with the Lincoln Midwest Ballet of the Nutcracker, serves as the Music Director of the Lincoln Municipal Band and performs on trumpet with the Lincoln Municipal Band, the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, the Nebraska Trumpet Ensemble, and with various groups as a freelance trumpet player. He has served as a clinician and adjudicator at competitions and festivals in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, and has worked as an instructor at music camps at the University of South Dakota, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Sheridan College (Wyoming), and the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Mr. Krueger’s entire family is comprised of music educators - wife Julie (retired 5th and 6th grade LPS band director), Paul (Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon), Tommy (Director of Bands at Westside High School), and Kayla Coughlin (General Music teacher at Montclair Elementary in Millard).