UNLV College of Fine Arts, School of Music, Division of Jazz and Commercial Music students recently won four prestigious 2020 DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards and will be recognized in the June 2020 issue. The UNLV Jazz Program has garnered 24 DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards since 2010.

UNLV Jazz Ensemble I, directed by professor Dave Loeb, received a Large Ensemble Graduate College Outstanding Performance award, along with Texas A&M and USC. The Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, directed by Julian Tanaka, won the Graduate College Blues/Pop/Rock Group category. Jorge Machain-Vega, a student of assistant professor Nathan Tanouye, won Graduate College Small Ensemble Jazz Arrangement; and Patrick Hogan, a student of Dave Loeb, received an Undergraduate College Outstanding Performance Jazz Vocal Soloist award. 

The DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards, founded in 1976, are considered among the most prestigious awards in Jazz education. Hundreds of musicians, music educators, and music industry professionals received their first international recognition as DownBeat Student Music Awards winners. This year, there were over 1,000 entries in more than 20 categories from distinguished music programs worldwide. The audio submissions, identified only by a code, were judged by leading Jazz educators and renowned Jazz performers, arrangers and composers through an impartial audition process.

UNLV Jazz Ensemble I and the UNLV Honors Jazz Trio were also selected, through a rigorous audio adjudication among top university music programs worldwide, to perform at the acclaimed 63rd Monterey Jazz Festival, September 25-27, 2020, along with groups from USC and the University of Illinois.

Congratulations to the remarkable students and faculty of the UNLV Division of Jazz and Commercial Music Program for their distinguished accomplishments bringing international recognition to the UNLV College of Fine Arts, School of Music.