Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

U. of I. Concert Jazz Band named top big band at Texas Jazz Festival

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band won top honors and the prestigious Gene Hall Award for best big band at this year’s University of North Texas Jazz Festival last weekend in Addison, Texas.

Participation in the festival, which took place April 1-3, is by invitation only.

“The festival is very prestigious,” said Chip McNeill, the director of the jazz studies program in the U. of I. School of Music. “Only about 10 groups in the categories of big band, combo and jazz vocal group are selected from the United States each year to attend and perform at the festival.”

Two ensembles from the U. of I. competed this year: the Concert Jazz Band, under McNeill’s direction, and the U. of I. Combo I, under the direction of jazz studies professor John “Chip” Stephens.

As the top university big band, the Concert Jazz Band was selected to perform on the evening concert program on April 1.

Several people from both groups also received soloist awards for their performances.

Read Next

Life sciences Photo of Michael Ward standing in tall grass on a riverbank.

How are migrating wild birds affected by H5N1 infection in the U.S.?

Each spring, roughly 3.5 billion wild birds migrate from their warm winter havens to their breeding grounds across North America, eating insects, distributing plant seeds and providing a variety of other ecosystem services to stopping sites along the way. Some also carry diseases like avian influenza, a worry for agricultural, environmental and public health authorities. […]

Announcements Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering.

Illinois faculty member elected to National Academy of Engineering

Champaign, Ill. — Marcelo Garcia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Social sciences Male and female student embracing on the quad with flowering redbud tree and the ACES library in the background. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010