UNT Division of Jazz Studies

Alumni guitarists Kevin Brunkhorst and Ryan Davidson have released the CD "Border Crossing." Also heard on the CD are alumni Brian Mulholland (bass) and Stockton Helbing (drums). It was recorded in Denton in the summer of 2008 and mixed and mastered in Nova Scotia. The tunes are all originals. CDs are available through CDBaby. Digital downloads are available through iTunes, CDBaby, or Amazon.com. It's also available through the streaming sources like Pandora, Rhapsody, or Last.fm.

UNT alumnus Calvin Sexton and his band the Inner City All-Stars have joined the Texas Tourist Artist roster of the Texas Commission on the Arts.

From the UNT press release:

Two UNT professors win Texas Composers Competition
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Dr. Cindy McTee, long-standing Regents Professor of composition at the University of North Texas College of Music , and Steve Wiest, director of the UNT One O'Clock Lab Band and associate professor of jazz studies, have been selected as two of six winners of the Texas Composers Competition.

We mourn the loss of Leon Breeden, former chair of the UNT Jazz Studies Program and director of the One O'Clock Lab Band, who passed away on Aug. 11, 2010 in Dallas. He was 88.

Post your remembrance of Leon Breeden Obituaries: New York Times Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Denton Record-Chronicle Doug Ramsey A Leon Breeden retrospective in photos and documents UNT press release

The first time I saw Leon Breeden was at the Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains, just north of New York City. Dr. Breeden was invited to conduct the New York All-State Jazz Band. It was an outstanding concert, and the students were thrilled to play for the director of the North Texas One O’ Clock Lab Band. I also remember some of his interesting and humorous comments to the students during the evening. Although I didn’t get to meet Dr. Breeden that night, I remember that he described Denton to the audience as a dusty little Texas town with a music school filled with great talent and dedicated faculty. He had an engaging and rural humor about him that could easily disguise the intensity he gave to his work. During my early years at North Texas, Leon was generous in his help, and made himself available to smooth my transition into the position. I quickly understood that Leon Breeden’s vision, perseverance and dedication to jazz education created the backbone of the legendary North Texas Jazz program, which remains the model for university and college jazz programs throughout the world.

Neil Slater, Professor Emeritus
Director, One O’ Clock Lab Band and
Chair, Division of Jazz Studies, Retired

8/14/2010

You can now download (Free!) a track from the soon-to-be-released project by the One O'Clock Lab Band: Lab 2010
Just go to the Soundcloud website, click on the track "New Cydonia" and then click on the download arrow at the top of the track icon. If you'd like to learn more about the wonderful cover art for Lab 2010, check out the story on the One O'Clock website

Denny Euprasert (MM 1998) has released his new album entitled “Denny Euprasert Trio” featuring Benny Golson and Joris Teepe. Denny is currently the Dean of Rangsit University Conservatory of Music and the director of the RSU Jazz Orchestra. He is the recipient of the Silapathorn Contemporary Artist of the Year Award, one of Thailand’s most prestigious honors. www.rsu.ac.th/music | www.myspace.com/dennyeuprasert

Alastair Otteson graduated from the jazz program at UNT in 2007, and has been living in Brooklyn, NY since then. He just released a self-titled CD of original music. It's available here: alastairottesen.bandcamp.com. See also his site: www.alastairottesen.com.

Daniel Rojas, who will graduate from UNT in August with a bachelor's degree in Jazz Studies (Arranging Emphasis), was recently hired by film composer Klaus Badelt to join his award-winning team in Santa Monica, CA. Klaus Badelt is one of the top film composers in Hollywood. His credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, The Time Machine, Gladiator, Poseidon, Pearl Harbor and many others. He has been commissioned to compose an opera about China's first emperor that will be premiered at the Terra Cotta Warriors museum in Xi'an, China. Klaus Badelt official site. One of the first projects that Daniel will be working on with Badelt is Hollywood in Vienna, a performance by the ORF Radio-Symphony Orchestra of the works of film composers Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Miklos Rozsa, John Williams, James Horner and Klaus Badelt. Daniel is from Heredia, Costa Rica. Daniel Rojas official site.

The UNT Jazz Studies faculty welcomes Richard DeRosa, who will begin teaching jazz arranging and composition in the fall 2010 semester. Here's his bio.

This video was produced for the North Texan magazine. Link to North Texan site