UNT Division of Jazz Studies

Kerry Marsh (UNT alumnus) and Julia Dollison have released the CD "Vertical Voices" as an ArtistShare project (see www.verticalvoices.us). On this remarkable CD they interpret Maria Schneider's large ensemble music by overdubbing their voices to reimagine the instrumental parts, and they add their own solo improvisations. They are joined by Ben Monder, guitar; Frank Kimbrough, piano; Jay Anderson, bass; and Clarence Penn, drums. All are members of the Maria Schneider Orchestra rhythm section. Read the press release.

Recent UNT jazz studies graduate Joel Cross has released the CD "Just Reach." It's available at iTunes, Amazon, and Zune.

At Honors Day 2010 on April 9, 2010, Sean Jones was recognized as Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Jazz Studies. Luke Brimhall was recognized as Outstanding Graduate Student in Jazz Studies. Pictured: Sean Jones.

Students Brian Clancy and Asher Barreras and faculty Stefan Karlsson and Ed Soph recently made a tour of Sweden and Finland. Find the tour itinerary and photos here.

This article in the Chronicle of Higher Education explains why Dr. Chesky was recognized with a national award for his work to promote awareness of hearing health for musicians. UNT is a leader in research and activism on music-related noise-induced hearing loss.

Trumpeters and current students Tyler Mire and Tim Schleinat will represent UNT Jazz Studies in the 2010 All-American College Band at Disneyland, sponsored by Yahama and directed by Dr. Ron McCurdy. Other members of the band come from Berklee, Eastman, Manhattan School of Music, Univ. of Northern Colorado, and other excellent music programs.

We held a contest to win the new Pat Metheny CD "Orchestrion" and a pair of tickets to see him live at Nokia Grand Prairie on April 13th.
Three winnners were chosen on April 9.
The new CD is available at Best Buy and Hastings or at www.patmetheny.com. Thanks to Warner Music Group for providing the tickets and CDs.

Trombonist Vincent Gardner is our Jazz Lecture Series guest artist for April 6, 2010. He plays that night at McDavid Studio at 7:30 p.m. with Stefan Karlsson, Lynn Seaton, and Mike Drake. Buy tickets.

Guitarist Herb Ellis, a UNT alumnus, has died at age 88. See his obituary in the New York Times, an article by Tom Cole at NPR, and an NPR story.

Herb Ellis interviewed at the University of North Texas on April 4, 1997.
Click on image to download video in .m4v format.
Click here to download it in .avi format.

Bassist Michael Formanek is our Jazz Lecture Series guest artist on March 30, 2010. He will play at McDavid Studio in Ft. Worth with Stefan Karlsson and Ed Soph, who have just returned from a trip to Sweden and Finland with students, at 7:30 p.m. on March 30.