Head of the Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan, Canadian trumpeter/composer Dean McNeill holds music degrees from the University of North Texas (Masters), McGill University (Undergraduate), and Grant MacEwan College (Music Diploma). 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 complication 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, Washington State Jazz Ensemble 1 (Pullman, Washington), Crane School of Music Jazz Ensemble 1 (Potsdam, New York), Brandon University Jazz Ensemble 1 (Brandon, Manitoba), 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 UofS 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) instruments.

Dean currently teaches large jazz ensemble, jazz arranging, and applied trumpet at the UofS.

For more information on Dean's current performance activities and publications please visit deanmcneill.com.

Selected discography:

2008 Mélange: New Music for Trumpet and Piano

2007 Prairie Fire: The Large Jazz Ensemble Music of Dean McNeill

2006-2007 *Bumper Crop IV Perceptions

2004-2005 *Bumper Crop III Prairie Rhythms

2002-2003 *Bumper Crop II Outstanding in their Fields

2000-2001 *Bumper Crop

1998 Two O'clock Lab Band A Salute to Benny Carter - University of North Texas Two O'clock Lab Band

1998 Teaching Music Through Performance In Band (volume two)

1997 Wind Dances - University of North Texas Wind Symphony

1997 University of North Texas Two O'clock Lab Band Two O'clock Lab Band

1997 Holsinger 5, The Music of David Holsinger - University of North Texas Symphonic Band

1997 Live at the Arts Centre Red Deer College - Dean McNeill Jazz Quartet

1992 Cookin' The Books - McGill Jazz Ensemble 1

1990 Late Late Show - McGill University Swing Band

1990 When I Sing (Alberta Cancer Foundation) Colleen Frances Lazoruk