Paul Harshman is the Director of Bands at Shorewood High School in Shoreline,
Washington. He also serves as the conductor of the Music Works Jazz Orchestra, a
professional jazz ensemble in the Seattle area and is in demand as a guest conductor and
clinician for both jazz and concert band festivals throughout the country.
Paul’s jazz ensembles have been considered among the finest in the nation since the early
nineties, winning many of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the country including the
Reno Jazz Festival, the Fullerton Jazz Festival, the Lionel Hampton/ University of Idaho
Jazz Festival, the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, the Berklee College Jazz Festival and the University of North Texas Jazz Festival. His groups have qualified for the Essentially
Ellington Festival in New York City five times and in 2005 received the Honorable
Mention Award at that festival. In 2008 the Shorewood Jazz Band won their division at
the Reno Jazz Festival for the third consecutive year and were again the Honorable
Mention Award winner at the Essentially Ellington Festival. His ensembles have
performed through invitation at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the
Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague,
Netherlands, the 2001 MENC National Conference in Washington D.C. and the 2007
International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in New York. They have also
performed with guest artists such as Maynard Ferguson, Phil Woods, Steve Houghton,
George Cables, Allen Vizzutti, Marvin Stamm, Arturo O’Farrill and the University of North Texas One O’clock Jazz Lab Band.
Paul received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Central Washington University and
received his Master of Music Degree from Northwestern University, where he studied
conducting with John P. Paynter, trumpet with Vincent Chicowicz and conducted the
Northwestern University Jazz Lab Band. While at CWU, Paul was an All-American in
Track and Field and still holds the school records for both the 10,000 and 3,000-meter
runs.