Ed Colson is the Director of Bands at Olathe Northwest High School. He was the Director of Bands at Oregon Trail Junior High from 1978-2002. Prior to that, he was at Pomona High School and Rosedale Middle School.

Ed graduated from Baker University in 1973. He earned his Master's Degree from that same institution in 1988.

Ed served as KMEW District I Junior High / Middle School Band Chairman from 1983-1991. During that tenure, he developed the Junior High Middle School Festival Bands that are still in operation today. Ed has served as a clinician for the Warner Bros. / Belwin Mills Publishing Company and is called on to serve as a guest conductor and clinician several times each year throughout Kansas and Missouri. He is a frequent staff member of the Midwestern Music Camp held each summer on the University of Kansas Campus.

Ed received the National Band Association Award for Outstanding Jazz Education in 1993. He is listed in the 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2007 editions of Who's Who of American Teachers. He received the Outstanding Jazz Educator Award from the National Band Association in 1994. In 1999, he was the first recipient of the Outstanding Middle Level Music Teacher Award for the Northeastern District of Kansas, an award presented by the Kansas Music Educators Association. He was an Olathe District finalist for the Kansas Master Teacher of the Year award that same year. In November of 2001, Ed received the Educator Excellence Award Presented by the Olathe Public School Foundation, just the second educator to receive that award.

In April 2003, Ed was notified that he was the recipient of the John Philip Sousa Legion of Honor Award. This award is presented to band directors who have established a tradition of excellence in their profession. Since its inception in 1982, only 136 band directors whorl-wide have received this honor. He was officially inducted into the Legion of Honor on December 19, at the New Kansas City Jazz Festival held in Kansas City's historic 18th and Vine District. Ed is also on the Board of Directors for the new Johnson County Wind Symphony, slated to begin in 2007.