Dr. Cottrell, associate professor of trombone at Hardin-Simmons University, is an active performer, teacher, and award-winning composer.  He performs on trombone with the Dallas based “oldies” rock band Johnny D and the Doo-Wops, the Abilene dance band Fanfare, and lead trombone for the West Texas Jazz Orchestra. He plays and trombone and euphonium with the San Angelo based combo Jazz Concho, and performs on tuba with the Key City Brass Quintet.

Jeff's first love is composing and arranging. He has numerous published works that have been performed around the world in various venues. His compositions include works for choir, orchestra, concert band, jazz band, brass quintet, trombone ensemble, and tuba-euphonium ensemble. In 2006 he was honored with The International Tuba-Euphonium Association's Harvey Phillips Award for Composition Excellence for euphonium featured in jazz/rock/fusion, and in 2013 his tuba-euphonium composition Tuba Loca was recorded for the CD release of Spainphonic by the internationally known Spanish euphonium artist Juan Jose Munera.  Recently he was honored as the Texas Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer for 2015.