Jordan Wardlaw
Saxaphone
Musician and educator Jordan Wardlaw performs all styles of music and teaches privately as well as in the classroom throughout the North Bay Area. A versatile performer and instructor, Jordan is currently in demand for a variety of live and studio music and remains a dedicated pedagogue. Immersed in music from an early age, he was taught saxophone and clarinet by his father and inspired to play tenor saxophone after hearing John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon and Wayne Shorter.
Jordan’s current performance projects include: San Francisco swing sensation Lee Press-On and the Nails, North Bay fusion powerhouse Blusion, acoustic jazz quintet Blue Note Collective and the R&B/rock outfit Crossfire, “the North Bay’s premiere live band.” Recognized mostly for his work on tenor saxophone, Jordan is also a skilled performer on all saxophones, clarinet and percussion. His orchestral experience includes frequent work with the Santa Rosa and Napa Valley Symphony since 1997 and frequent appearances with San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Band. 
As a session recording artist Jordan has provided the woodwind work for several video game soundtracks including Wallace & Gromit and Sam & Max(seasons 1-3). He has also been active in musical theater since 1996, having performed with companies such as Cinnabar Theater and Santa Rosa Players. Jordan’s various sideman credits include: The Temptations, Johnny Mathis, Barry Manilow, the New York Voices, Racquel Briton, Toni Tennille, Peter Erskine, Ndugu Chancler, Louis Bellson, Bill Watrous, Ernie Watts, Bob Sheppard, Shelly Berg, Bobby Shew, John Clayton, Howard Wiley, Erik Jekabson, John Allair and the late Mel Graves.
Mr. Wardlaw is an experienced and devoted educator, currently the saxophone instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and also serving on the faculty of the Santa Rosa Symphony Summer Music Academy. He was music director for the Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School (2004-2007) and the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts and was the director of the Santa Rosa High School Jazz Ensemble during 2007-08. He continues to teach woodwinds, theory and improvisation in his private studio (North Bay Saxophone Studio) and is active as a saxophone & improvisation clinician at the high school and college level.
Jordan graduated from Santa Rosa High School in 1999 and holds a B.M. in jazz performance from USC’s Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles where he studied saxophone and improvisation with Bob Sheppard, Kim Richmond and Bruce Eskovitz.