Jordan Burchill and Mikaela Kahn's song is in new Spike Lee movie

UNT Jazz Studies alumni Jordan Burchill and Mikaela Kahn "started a group called Beth // James a couple years back when a big exodus of UNT grads moved to Austin," Jordan reports. "We recently found out that one of our original songs, 'Lion Eyes,' is going to be in Spike Lee’s newest movie called BlacKkKlansman (in theaters everywhere August 10th). Terence Blanchard did the score and the movie also includes music by Prince, James Brown, and Emerson Lake & Palmer.

Michelle Alonso releases "The Present"

UNT alumna Michelle Alonso, who earned a bachelor's degree in composition and a master's degree in Jazz Studies at UNT, has released her first EP, entitled "The Present." Michelle reports that she is "very proud to say that it was recorded, produced, and engineered by almost 100% UNT alumni (the string players were the only non-alumni)." Congratulations to Michelle and her colleagues!

UNT students recognized in DownBeat Student Music Awards

Congratulations to our current students and their faculty mentors for being recognized in this year's DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards:

Jazz Soloist
Graduate College Outstanding Performance
Brandon Moore, Tenor Saxophone
Faculty Mentor: Richard DeRosa

Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Graduate College Outstanding Performance
UNT Jazz Singers
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Barnes

Jazz Arrangement
Graduate College Winner Big Band
Brandon Moore, “My Shining Hour”
Faculty Mentor: Richard DeRosa

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