Workman Jazz Festival
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A festival like no other. We promise to treat you right, and we have some wonderful adjudicators providing input for you, and working with your students. Our festival features a non-competitive, no-ratings format, and all bands receive on stage clinics from the full adjudication panel. Rather than have two superior performances leave here a tenth apart, we offer you the opportunity to receive a highly educational experience.
All groups will receive a 40-minute performance slot in which to set up, perform, and receive a clinic with all three adjudicators. Our festival is unique in that all our educators will work as a team to clinic your group together as a team on stage. We bring in fully qualified educators, and each one has a primary background - Brass, Woodwinds, or Rhythm Section.
Omar Vidaña graduated in 1999 from John Glenn High School in Norwalk, CA. He then attended Cerritos College, and studied under Dr. David Betancourt, Ken Foerch and Billy Frenzel. In 2005, Mr. Vidaña transferred to CSULB with a full music scholarship, and studied under James Barrera, Jay Mason, Dr. Joan Albuquerque and John Carnahan.
Mr. Vidaña is currently director of bands at Bellflower High School, and has earned superior ratings at SCSBOA festival for concert band symphonic winds every year of his tenure. He has led the Marching Band to an SCJA championship and 16 SCSBOA championship appearances winning the bronze medal three times in 3 different divisions. In 2014, Mr. Vidaña was chosen as the Bellflower High School Teacher of the Year. In 2016 -2019, 2021 & 2022 the Bellflower Buccaneer Brigade went undefeated in both the SCSBOA and CSBC field circuits and was given the privilege to attend one of the most prestigious parade competitions in the nation, the Arcadia festival of bands. Mr. Vidaña still finds the time somehow to frequently perform with his band Cumbia Brava which is one of the most popular versatile local bands in Southern California.
James is an Associate Professor at Riverside City College in Riverside, CA. There he conducts the Community Concert Band, Leads Lab Jazz Ensemble I and is the Director of the world famous Riverside City College Marching Tigers.
In the world of pageantry James has been on the brass staff for the Blue Devils A Corps since 2008 and has been a part of 9 DCI Championships (2009,2010,2012,204,2015, 2017,2019, 2022, and 2023) and four Jim Ott Awards (2008,2010,2014,2022).
James earned his Bachelor of Science in Business/Marketing from the University of Phoenix in February of 2008 and his Master’s Degree in Education from National University in May of 2013. James resides in Eastvale, CA with his wife Sara and their son Miles and their dogs Aki and Coltrane.
Gary Pratt has led a distinguished career as a music educator, performer, conductor, adjudicator and arranger, and is an Emeritus Professor of Music at California State University, Northridge, where he served as chairman of the CSU Northridge Wind Area, Director of Orchestras, and Director of Jazz Studies. His guest conducting engagements have included performances in both Europe and Japan, and his noted versatility as a music educator has made him a highly sought-after clinician and guest conductor of jazz ensembles, orchestras and concert bands.
Throughout his career as a professional Jazz Bassist, Mr. Pratt has performed and/or recorded with such legendary jazz artists as Louie Bellson, Lionel Hampton, Snooky Young, Conti Candoli, Pearl Bailey, Bobby Shew, Don Menza, Blue Mitchell, Pete Christlieb, Cat Anderson, Bob Florence, Kim Richmond, Billy Mintz, Gary Fukushima, Mary Bond Davis, Sandra Booker, Cathy Segal-Garcia, Brian Swartz, Matt Otto, Clay Jenkins, Rob Lockart, and many others. Mr. Pratt has been awarded the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Jazz Educator Award (2015), and is a recent inductee into the California Alliance for Jazz (CAJ) Hall of Fame (2018).