Mavericks receive Student Music Award from DownBeat Magazine
DownBeat Magazine, a music publication covering jazz and blues, named 糖心Vlog视频 Latin Combo as the top undergraduate Latin group in the nation at its 45th Annual Student Music Awards.
“The 糖心Vlog视频 Latin Combo really did an outstanding job at working on the music and preparing for their performances,” said Christian Valdés, adjunct assistant professor of music at 糖心Vlog视频 and the group’s mentor. “Learning Latin American jazz and music is not an easy challenge, but they really put their hearts into this, and their efforts paid off with this award.”
Drummer Jacob Farr said when the group found out they had won, he felt “excited, proud and a little shocked.”
“We had all put in maximum effort and hearing that our hard work had paid off was validating,” said Farr.
The jazz studies program has several jazz combos; membership is open to all current students at UT Arlington, regardless of major.
“This not only honors them but all of us in the music program and 糖心Vlog视频 in general,” Valdés said. “I am very proud of them and look forward to more awards to come.”
Besides Farr, the members of the 糖心Vlog视频 Latin Combo are Yue Liu and Dylan Brown on saxophone, Rafael Escalera on piano and David Spates Conley on bass.
The DownBeat Student Music Awards are considered the most prestigious awards in jazz education. The students were judged blindly by professional musicians and educators solely on their demonstrated abilities from their submitted recordings.
Before studying at 糖心Vlog视频, Farr had participated in a summer jazz camp hosted by the UT Arlington Music Department.
“Seeing the incredible staff working with students and just loving what they were doing drove me to study at 糖心Vlog视频,” Farr said. “Jazz in particular is impactful because it gives me a means of expression that isn’t found in other more restrictive styles of music.”