Shawn Purcell, originally hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a jazz guitarist, composer, arranger and educator based in the Washington DC region. Purcell has shared the stage, recorded with, and/or toured with Walt Weiskopf, Pat Bianchi, Terell Stafford, Regina Carter, Steve Fidyk, Chip McNeill, Sean Jones, Steve Allee, Brian Charette, Tim Warfield, Lucas Pino, Peter Erskine, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, The Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, Jim Pugh, Eddie Daniels, Chris Potter, Jason Tiemann, Nicholas Payton, National Symphony Orchestra and many others. Purcell has appeared at prominent jazz venues and festivals both across the U.S. and internationally. His performance credits include legendary venues like The Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Smalls, The Jazz Kitchen, The Bop Stop, Con Alma, Rite of Swing Jazz Cafe, Sharp9 Gallery, Keystone Korner Baltimore, An Die Musik, The Blue Wisp, JazzB in São Paulo and Aalt Stadhaus in Luxembourg as well as major festivals and venues such as Umbria Jazz Festival, DC Jazz Fest, Indy Jazz Fest and Savannah Jazz Festival.
As a recording artist, Purcell’s guitar work can be heard on nearly 40 albums. Notable recordings include The Whirl (Chip McNeill), Heads Up! and Allied Forces (Steve Fidyk), Two Seconds to Midnight and Prime Time (Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra featuring Doc Severinsen), Push the Limits and The Way of the Groove (Ben Patterson), Vital Frequencies (Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra featuring Chris Potter), as well as projects with The Capitol Bones, Mike Tomaro, and multiple releases by vocalist Darden Purcell, including her latest release Love’s Got Me In a Lazy Mood (OA2 Records). His debut as a bandleader, Symmetricity, came out in 2019 on Armored Records, followed by 180, released on Origin Records in 2022.
Purcell dedicated over 20 years as a member of the military big bands in Washington DC. From 1996-2004, Purcell was the guitarist in the US Air Force jazz ensemble, The Airmen of Note. During his time with “The Note,” Purcell has performed around the globe including England, Germany, Turkey, Luxembourg, The Azores, Belgium, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Kuwait, and Bahrain. He recently finished his tenure as the guitarist with the Washington DC based US Navy Band “Commodores” jazz ensemble.
As an educator, Purcell currently serves as adjunct professor of jazz guitar, jazz combos and jazz arranging at George Mason University (Fairfax, VA). He has served on the jazz faculty at West Viriginia University, Towson University, Middle Tennessee State University, and was a Visiting Lecturer in Jazz Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, under the direction of David Baker. He has led master classes at major universities throughout the country. He has also served on the faculty for camps such as Mason Summer Jazz, The National Jazz Workshop, Maryland Summer Jazz Camp, JazzWire Summer Summit, Frisco Arts Jazz Camp, and The National Guitar Workshop. Purcell has also penned educational articles for Premier Guitar, Jazz Guitar Life, and DownBeat Magazine.
Purcell holds a BM in Recording Arts & Sciences from Duquesne University, an MA in Music from Middle Tennessee State University, and a DMA in Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In 2016, Ben launched the Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra with its first recording, Vital Frequencies, featuring Chris Potter. The band includes some of the Washington, DC area's top musicians and has performed at Blues Alley and for the Washington Performing Arts Society Gala.
Among the vanguard of today's contemporary composers and big band arrangers, Ben Patterson's music is just as comfortable harnessing the power of the traditional big band horn section as it is with the intermingling of electronica to achieve a singular, complex vision. Surrounded by the elite rhythm section of pianist Chris Ziemba, guitarist Shawn Purcell, bassist Paul Henry, and drummer Todd Harrison, Patterson molds deep musical magic around their swirling grooves.
Patterson's unique musical voice makes him instantly recognizable as a trombonist, composer, and arranger. He is the former lead trombonist and music director for the USAF Airmen of Note, with whom he spent 22 years thrilling audiences with his fiery technique and connecting with students all over the U.S. and abroad.

Darden Purcell, a Washington D.C. based jazz vocalist, is an active featured soloist with symphony orchestras, big bands and small ensembles, band leader and vocal instructor. Ms. Purcell has shared the stage with many top jazz artists including Maria Schneider, Eric Alexander, Terell Stafford, Jim Pugh, Chip McNeill, Chuchito Valdes, Dana Hall, Alan Baylock, Don Heitler, Glenn Wilson, Stockton Helbing, Byron Stripling, Bobby Floyd, Joel Spencer, Darmon Meader, Lisanne Lyons, Jim Carroll, Charlie Young, Chris Vadala, Shawn Purcell, Matt Niess, Joe McCarthy, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, US Navy Commodores, Naval Academy Big Band Next Wave, The Airmen of Note, US Army Blues, Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra and the American Festival Pops Orchestra (Tony Maiello) to name a few. Dr. Purcell is the Director of Jazz Studies, Jazz Voice instructor and Director of the Downbeat award-winning Mason Jazz Vocal Ensemble at George Mason University.
She has performed at concert halls and clubs nationally and internationally, including Club Bonafide (NYC), Blues Alley (Washington DC), Pops for Champagne (Chicago), The Jazz Kitchen (Indianapolis), The Blue Wisp (Cincinnati, The Kitchen Cafe (Dallas), The Bop Stop (Cleveland), Con Alma (Pittsburgh), JazzB (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Sandler Center (VA Beach Symphony, back-up vocals for Ben Folds) Meyerhoff Center (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra), Wolf Trap for the Performing Arts (National Symphony Orchestra) and The Kennedy Center (back-up vocals for Mr. George Benson, Sara Bareilles and Caroline Shaw). Ms. Purcell is a former Washington DC Air Force Band vocalist, with the groups High Flight and the Airmen of Note, performing nationally and internationally, including Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Purcell performed back-up vocals for nationally renowned recording artists, Chaka Khan, BeBe Winans, Bryan White, Lari White, Janie Frickie, Freda Payne, Sherrie Payne, Gloria Loring, Melba Moore and Rita Coolidge as well as a televised performance behind Darlene Love on "The Late Show with David Letterman." In addition to her active performing schedule, Dr. Purcell is a sought-after jazz educator. She has been a guest artist/clinician/conductor at Capital University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Southern Nazarene University, Tiffin University, Indiana State School Music Association, Virginia Music Educators Association (VMEA), ACDA Southern Region conference and Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Jazz festivals. Her students have won “Outstanding soloist" and “Outstanding Musicianship" awards at collegiate festivals as well as Downbeat Student Music Awards. The Mason Jazz Vocal Ensemble has shared the stage with the Manhattan Transfer, the New York Voices, and ACCENT. They were awarded “Outstanding Ensemble" at the Kansas City Jazz Summit, were a featured collegiate ensemble at the 2018 JEN conference and in 2023, won a DownBeat Student Music Award for "Outstanding Performance - Undergraduate College Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble." ​ Darden has presented internationally at the Institute for Jazz Research "Jazz Voices" conference in Graz, Austria and through a George Mason University Global Education grant, performed at Projeto GURI and JazzB in Sao Paulo Brazil. Purcell received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Jazz Performance at Virginia Tech, a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Darden’s previous CDs, Easy Living and Where the Blue Begins, produced by Stockton Helbing with arrangements by Shawn Purcell, can be purchased at iTunes and Bandcamp.​