UNT Division of Jazz Studies

Pianist, composer, and recent UNT master's graduate Kait Dunton is profiled in S. Victor Aaron's article "The Young Lionesses: 10 Future Female Jazz Stars" at jazz.com. Kait is starting work on a DMA in Jazz at USC this fall.

From the UNT press release:

"UNT tied for ninth among public National Universities on U.S. News & World and Report's "Top Up-and-Coming Schools" list in its America's Best Colleges, 2010 Edition. UNT was the only Texas public university on the list, which includes such institutions as Arizona State University, Clemson University and Ohio State University-Columbus.

Peer assessments propelled UNT into U.S. News & World Report's article, "Keep an Eye on These Schools," stating that UNT is among the top schools making "the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus or facilities," as recognized by the magazine's panel of experts."

Oso Closo, the band that includes several UNT jazz studies alumni, spent the summer working on their second album, Today is Beauty's Birthday. It will be released soon and they're having a couple shows in Denton to support it. Guest artists on the recording include UNT faculty member Christopher Deane and alumni Carl Murr, Clay Pritchard, Victor Barranco, and more. Here is information on the shows:
Sunday, August 30 - Acoustic Show/CD Listening Party at Art Six Coffee House - 6 pm.
Friday, September 4 - CD Release Show at Hailey's - 9 pm.
More info on both events can be found at www.osocloso.com. Two songs from the new recording can be heard at www.myspace.com/osocloso.
The members of Oso Closo are Adrian Hulet, Chris McQueen, Danny Garcia, Andy Rogers, and Ryan Jacobi.

From today's memo by Associate Dean Warren Henry:

Dear Colleagues,
We are looking forward to launching a new initiative to provide a series of Career Development courses for students in the College of Music. I want to bring to your attention to three new courses that will be offered this year and hope that you will encourage your students to take advantage of these unique opportunities. For additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the instructors.

Two courses will be offered this fall:

Developing Your Professional Career in Music (2 credits)
MUGC 4890/5890.008
Open to undergraduate and graduate students
Fall, 2009
Mondays, 11:00 – 12:50
Instructor: Debbie Brooks
Email:

Introduction to Audio and Recording Technology (3 credits)
MUGC 4890/5890.001
Open to undergraduate and graduate students
Fall, 2009
Fridays, 1:00 – 3:50
Instructor: Blair Liikala
Email:

We have one course scheduled for the spring semester:

Music Industry Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
Open to undergraduate and graduate students
Spring, 2010
Time and date to be announced later in the fall semester
Instructor: Jason Levi
Email:

Feel free to pass this information along to your students, and please join me in welcoming Debbie, Blair and Jason in their new roles as instructors for our 2009-2010 Career Development courses.

Sincerely,
Dr. Warren Henry
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
University of North Texas, College of Music

"Musical Improvisation: Art, Education, and Society," edited by Bruno Nettl and Gabriel Solis, has just been published by the University of Illinois Press. It includes an article by John Murphy entitled "Beyond the Improvisation Class: Learning to Improvise in a University Jazz Studies Program." Gabriel Solis summarizes it this way in the introduction: "Murphy's study takes an explicitly ethnographic tack in seeking to advance understanding of institutional jazz education, a topic that has been much discussed, in print and more informally, by jazz scholars, musicians, and critics. Having taught jazz studies at the University of North Texas and conducted extensive research with students and faculty there, he argues that far more goes into learning jazz there than can be found in official classroom curricula. It is, his interlocutors say, a process that occupies their whole selves and that continues, despite its institutionalization, to incorporate much of an older oral-tradition model" (p. 13).
Page for the book at University of Illinois Press

UNT Professor Emeritus Leon Breeden, Director of the One O'Clock Lab Band and Chair of the Jazz Studies program for 22 years, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. The honorary degree will be conferred at the Doctoral Commencement and Hooding Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, at 7 p.m. in Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center on UNT's Denton campus.

This page has further information about commencement ceremonies.

All of the summer 2009 commencement ceremonies will be streamed live on the web.
See this page for more information.

There will be a required meeting for all new Jazz Studies majors on Tuesday, August 25 from 1-2 p.m. in Kenton Hall (room 282). This is for both undergraduates and graduates.
You'll meet the faculty and receive information about proficiency exams and auditions.

Just got this from our friends at Bass Hall:

We are happy to announce the appearance of the Jazz Ambassadors of The United States Army Field Band at Bass Performance Hall.
Tuesday, October 13 7:00 p.m.
Free of charge
You must have a ticket to enter.
To reserve tickets for your group
Contact the Box Office at 817.212.4280 or
at www.basshall.com after August 28
Current members of the Jazz Ambassadors include--
Andrew Layton, Patrick Shook, Bradford Danho, Joshua Fox, Michael Buckley, Michael Bravin, Kevin Watt, Jack Wengrosky and Timothy Young
**All former students of University of North Texas**

On tonight's excellent senior bass recital by Sean Jacobi, he was joined by brothers Ryan (UNT alumnus) on drums and Kevin (student at SUNY-Purchase) on alto saxophone and father Brian on trombone. Chris Villanueva played piano. Is anybody aware of another UNT jazz degree recital that four family members played on? If so, please let me know and I'll post it here.--John Murphy
Update: On Joel Cross's senior recital, which he shared with Sylvester Onyejiaka, and was notable for the large number of performers (and audience members!), his sisters Danette, Erin , and Leslie Cross sang alto in the choir; his brother Samuel Cross played keyboard; and the Song "Jesus, My Sweet Jesus" was written by his father Kirklin Cross Sr.

Michal Garcia is a fine photographer based in Asia who also happens to be a UNT jazz alumnus. He sent us 85 high-quality photos of the One O'Clock Lab Band's recent trip to Thailand with guest artists Prof. Brad Leali and James Carter. Link to photos.