​MEET JOHN LARSON

 John Larson was the Director of the Normal Community High School Jazz Ensemble from 2011 - 2022. He holds a B.A. in Music Education from Western Illinois UNiversity. He has been an adjunct faculty member in the music departments of WIU and Bradley University and is a sought after clinician and adjudicator in the areas of Jazz and percussion. John has been an IMEA District Jazz guest conductor in District 2, 3 & 4 and is a clinician and adjudicator at numerous jazz and marching festivals throughout Illinois.

He has been a presenter at the Illinois Music EducatorsConference and the international Jazz Education Network conference. He has been a freelance percussionist and bassist for the past 35 years in addition to a 14 year carreer as a music educator in public school music programs in Illinois. He has been the private instructor for numerous professional jazz drummers including Matt Wilson (NYC), Jason Brannon (Berklee College) and Matt Murphy (Las Vegas).

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Mr. Larson recently launched Larson Music Publishing and has produced three instructional books on jazz drumming - “Ba Doom Ching”, “The Feel Of Swing” and
“Fill-In The Gap” - as well as numerous solo and ensemble literature for all areas of
percussion.

Mr. Larson is a graduate of Western Illinois University. He is the Artistic Director for
Jazz Futures, a jazz workshop in Central Illinois.