Jazz Articles about University of Northern Iowa

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UNI Jazz Band One: This Is the Band

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 2013

UNI is the University of Northern Iowa, which has had a respected Jazz Studies program for more than three decades, first under director Robert Washut and more recently under Chris Merz whose charges have recorded and released their tenth CD since Merz assumed the reins in 2002 (the band recorded eleven albums under Washut's guidance). Six of the nine selections on This Is the Band were written and / or arranged by members of the ensemble; the others were composed ...

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UNI Jazz Band: The Hard Way

by Jack Bowers
July 17, 2013

UNI stands for the University of Northern Iowa whose tradition of producing first-rate big-band recordings spans more than two decades, first under director Bob Washut and more recently under his successor, Chris Merz (The Hard Way is the twentieth album by the university's Jazz Band One in my library). This is a “semi-live" date on which three of the ten numbers were recorded in concert, the others in a studio. In either setting, the band is stout as a rampart, ...

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The University of Northern Iowa Jazz Band One: The Unlikely Event

by Jack Bowers
February 7, 2005

In spite of this one's title, a new album by the University of Northern Iowa's Jazz Band One is hardly an unlikely event. This is the eleventh in my collection, and I may have overlooked one or two. Nine were directed by Bob Washut, the two most recent by his successor, Chris Merz, who, like Washut, relishes moving things around, marrying various styles and eras and generally keeping his students on their collective toes.

The multi-faceted concert (everything was recorded ...