Student Feature
U of U Jazz Ensembles Earn Highest Possible Rankings at UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival
Congratulations are in order for University of Utah Jazz Ensemble One and the U of U jazz combo Hot Club of Zion, which earned top rankings at the distinguished UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival in April. The largest event of its kind in the nation, the 42nd annual festival at the University of Northern Colorado brought together internationally recognized artists, award-winning clinicians, and more than 275 college, high school and middle school big bands, combos, and jazz vocal groups from across the country.
Jazz Ensemble One, led by Director of Jazz Studies Russell Schmidt, scored I - Excellent rankings uniformly, receiving the highest designations in all 16 possible categories (8 each from two different big band adjudicators). Additionally, four students received individual awards for outstanding achievement as soloists: Denson Angulo (bass), Ben Kimura (piano), Ben Lepley (trombone), and Jeremy Tarshis (guitar).
“In a densely competitive environment, where festival adjudicators listen to band after band, to have received uniformly excellent scores shows we stood out among the best of the best,” said Schmidt, noting Jazz Ensemble One was the very last band scheduled to perform that day, so the adjudicators had been listening to groups all day long. “Referenced against those other groups, they chose to give us the highest scores possible, top to bottom.”
The combo Hot Club of Zion, adjudicated solely by internationally renowned jazz saxophonist Dave Pietro, was rewarded exclusively with I - Excellent rankings in all 8 possible categories. After their performance, Mr. Pietro began his clinic comments to the group by telling them they were one of his all-time favorite combos in such a setting, which is high praise considering he has been a festival adjudicator for nearly two decades. Hot Club of Zion is coached by Keven Johansen.
In all, these two Jazz Area groups went 24 for 24 with top rankings on the scoring sheets. The Jazz Area and the School of Music are very proud of the achievements of these students, which earned them top rankings among more than 7,500 participants. This impressive achievement isn’t only important for current U of U musicians and supporters, it is also a large-scale success that increases the School of Music’s profile for recruiting students. “There are a lot of great and exciting things happening in the Jazz Area,” Schmidt emphasized. “I think successes like this help me present our quality more tangibly to prospective students.”
