Jazz Studies Program (Music) received three prestigious DownBeat Magazine 36th Annual Student Music Awards in the June issue. UNLV Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dave Loeb and Nathan Tanouye, received the Large Ensemble Graduate College Outstanding Performance award along with the University of Northern Colorado Jazz Lab Band I and the Cal State Northridge Jazz "A" Band. The UNLV Latin Jazz Ensemble, directed by Uli Geissendoerfer (a recent graduate of UNLV's jazz studies program), received a Latin Group Graduate College Outstanding Performance award, sharing the honor with the University of North Texas Laura Otero Columbian Project. John Summers, jazz studies graduate student, received a Jazz Arrangement Graduate College Large Ensemble Outstanding Performance award for his arrangement of Michael Brecker's "African Skies." The UNLV jazz program has garnered five DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards since 2010. The awards, founded in 1976, are considered the most prestigious awards in jazz education. This year, there were 950 entries in 16 categories from distinguished music programs worldwide. The audio CD submissions, identified only by a code, were judged by leading jazz educators and renowned jazz performers, arrangers, and composers through a blind audition process that insures impartiality.
