Division of Jazz Studies

Recent UNT jazz studies master's alumnus Ben Herzick has a new job at SoundExchange. Ben reports:

Among other things, my role as a licensing and enforcement analyst will be to help new licensees (webcasters) through the licensing process. I will also research unlicensed webcasters and educate them on their responsibility to pay royalties to artists and sound recording owners either through the statutory license (the blanket license administered by SoundExchange) or through individual agreements with the artists and copyright holders of all the music they stream.
A simple way to explain the essence of SoundExchange's role is "Pandora pays SoundExchange, SoundExchange pays the artists and record labels."

SoundExchange's "about" page: http://www.soundexchange.com/about/

The database artists can search to determine if they have unpaid royalties waiting for them: http://www.soundexchange.com/artist-copyright-owner/does-soundexchange-have-royalties-for-you/search-for-artist/

Drew Zaremba won the $10,000 first prize in the Sherman/Barsanti Inspiration Award.

Video about his project: https://vimeo.com/119515391.

Aaron Hedenstrom has received the BMI Future Jazz Masters scholarship of $5,000 and a trip to NYC on April 20th to receive the award at the Jazz Masters Luncheon.

Learn more about Aaron's work at http://www.aaronhedenstrom.com/.

Alumnus Will Campbell is co-leader of the Unhinged Sextet, which just released a CD entitled "Clarity" on OA2 Records. Alumnus Vern Sielert is also a member of the group. The CD features all original music by the band members. Personnel: Will Campbell, alto saxophone; Matt Olson, tenor saxophone; Vern Sielert, trumpet; Mike Kocour, piano; Jon Hamar, bass; Dom Moio, drums.

Alumnus Alejandro Palma recently won a songwriting contest hosted by John Legend and the AXE White Label Collective. He and four other artists will be opening for John Legend at this year's South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin.

He graduated this past August (2014) with his Jazz Studies degree in saxophone performance. He sang the song that won the contest at his senior recital.

https://secure.axewhitelabel.com/collective

From an NPR profile of Jeff Beal, who composes the music for "House of Cards":

"Beal has made his work a family affair: Joan provides eerie operatic vocals throughout Season 2, and their son, Henry, plays bass in the main title and in many episodes, recording the tracks in his dorm room at the University of North Texas."

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/26/389045445/scoring-at-risk-how-the-house-of-cards-composer

UNT alumnus Michael Waldrop, professor of percussion at Eastern Washington University, has a new big band CD. Find out more about Michael and the CD at http://michaelwaldrop.net/. The band includes current UNT jazz studies faculty members and UNT alumni.

Distinguished UNT alumnus Bob Belden recently traveled to Tehran, Iran with current UNT jazz student Matt Young and alumni Pete Clagget and Roberto Verastegui to perform at the FAJR International Music Festival and the Tehran Jazz Festival.

New York Times coverage: www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/world/rebirth-of-the-cool-american-music-makes-a-return-to-iran.html

Pianist and composer Carolina Calvache, a December 2010 UNT jazz studies master's graduate, is currently teaching jazz piano, harmony, ensemble, composition and arranging in Chennai, India. The school is called the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music and it has a small program. "All the students are mostly rhythm section players," she wrote. "There are no horns here!!!"

The school's website is http://sam.org.in/.

We mourn the loss of Clark Terry.
Peter Keepnews's obituary in the New York Times.
Ed Soph speaking about Clark Terry in 2013: