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Dean has composed and/or arranged music for
professional ensembles including brass quintet, symphony orchestra,
large and small brass ensembles, jazz combo, and large jazz ensemble.
Dean's arrangements of the jazz standard All
of You won an award from Downbeat
Magazine for University Student
Arrangement of the Year.
Dean recently released two CDs as a leader which
include:
1) Prairie Fire-Large Jazz Ensemble Music
by Dean McNeill. This CD is a compilation of McNeill's arrangements
and original compositions orchestrated for large jazz ensemble,
as performed by an outstanding all-Canadian jazz ensemble which
includes Hugh Fraser, Campbell Ryga, Mike Rud, Ted Warren, Kelly
Jefferson, Mike Heriott, Brian O'Kane, Mike Downes, Greg Gatien,
and many others. Prairie Fire
is available at: http://www.cellarlive.com
2) Mélange: New Music for Trumpet
and Piano. This jazz/classical hybrid CD is a mixture of western
Canadian classical repertoire, as performed by McNeill and acclaimed
Canadian pianist Bonnie Nicholson (e.g. performing Allan Gilliland's
Concerto for Trumpet), and, jazz repertoire, as performed by McNeill
and two-time Juno award winning Canadian jazz pianist Jon Ballantyne.
Mélange: New Music for Trumpet
and Piano is available at: http://www.msrcd.com
In the jazz idiom Dean has performed with the
Banff Centre Jazz Orchestra, Vancouver
Jazz Orchestra, the Birth
of the Cool Repertoire Project, the Art
Blakey Tribute Project, and with the likes of Kenny
Wheeler, Pat LaBarbera, P.J. Perry, Bobby Caldwell, Carol Welsman,
Hugh Fraser, Tommy Banks (big band and combo), Campbell Ryga,
Kelly Jefferson, Robert Younge, among others. Dean currently directs
the Metro Jazz Ensemble of Saskatoon
and he has led many jazz combo-touring projects throughout Western
Canada. He has performed as a featured guest artist with the Winnipeg
Jazz Orchestra, Crane School of Music Jazz Ensemble 1
(Potsdam, New York), Brandon University
Jazz Ensemble 1 (Brandon, Manitoba), Edmonton
Jazz Orchestra (Edmonton, Alberta), and the University
of Manitoba Jazz Ensemble 1 (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
In the classical idiom Dean has been a member
of the Saskatchewan Brass Quintet
(Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), the Blue
Bonnet Brass (Fort Worth, Texas), and the Red
Deer (Alberta), Irving
(Texas), and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan)
Symphony Orchestras. He
has performed as a soloist in numerous classical recitals (e.g.
University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta), Auburn University (Auburn,
Alabama), Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Oklahoma), University
of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)), and at the 2007 Western
Canadian Music Awards (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan). Dean has performed
recently on CBC radio multiple times, in both the classical and
jazz realms.
Dean has adjudicated in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec and in this capacity shared the
stage with such performers as Tommy Banks, Dee Daniels, Hugh Fraser,
Kelly Jefferson, Bob Mintzer, P.J. Perry, Campbell Ryga, Brad
Turner, Sunny Wilkinson, and many others. A recipient of the U
of S Dept of Music's Dwaine Nelson Teaching
Awards, Dean has been the Musical Director of the Texas
Lone Star Film Awards, the Edmonton Jazz Society's
Little Bird Big Band, and
the E.J.S.'s Jazz Works music
workshop. On multiple occasions Dean been an adjudicator for the
Western Canadian Music Awards,
the Canadian Juno Awards
and the Saskatoon Community Foundation
(scholarships).
Dean has been a Yamaha trumpet artist for the
past 11 years playing the Yamaha YTR835RG (Bb Xeno), the YTR8445G
(C Xeno), YTR9830 (Piccolo), TFH6310Z (Flugel horn), TR9610 (Eb/D),
and the TCR-731 (Cornet).
Dean currently teaches large jazz ensemble,
jazz arranging, and applied trumpet at the University of Saskatchewan.
For more information on Dean's current performance
activities and published articles please read through more of
this website.
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