Lawrence
Today magazine, Summer 2007
For the third time, the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble (LUJE)
has been honored by DownBeat magazine with the “Outstanding
Performance Award” in the college big band category of its annual student
music awards competition.
Under the direction of Fred Sturm ’73, Kimberly-Clark Professor of
Music, LUJE was one of three university jazz ensembles in the United States
and Canada recognized by the magazine. The University of Northern Colorado
and the University of Miami joined Lawrence as outstanding performance winners
in the big-band category.
LUJE’s outstanding performance award was based on the submitted CD “Witnesses,” which
featured compositions and arrangements written exclusively by Lawrence students.
The disc was recorded over the course of two days in May 2006, by Lawrence
recording engineer Larry Darling ’76.
In addition to LUJE, 2006 Lawrence graduate Doug Detrick was named the winner
of the “Outstanding Jazz Arrangement Award” in the magazine’s
college jazz arranging category. Detrick, currently a teaching assistant
in jazz studies at the University of Oregon, was cited for his award-winning
arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “Single Petal of a Rose,” which
he scored for combined symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble. The work was
performed and recorded by the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and LUJE under
the direction of David Becker, professor of music, last June.
“It’s always a thrill to be recognized with an award like this,
but what I’m most proud of is the fact that we accomplished this at
an undergraduate institution,” says Sturm.
DownBeat’s student music competition typically attracts submissions
from hundreds of ensembles, and the majority of winning college jazz bands
are from institutions with graduate-level performers.
“Very few collegiate ensembles submit student works for these kinds
of competitions because those pieces typically pale in comparison to professionally
published compositions and arrangements,” Sturm says.
Known as DBs and presented in 14 categories in four separate divisions (junior
high, high school, performing high school, and college) the DownBeat awards
are considered among the highest music honors in the field of jazz education.
LUJE was the first ensemble or individual at Lawrence to be recognized by
DownBeat, earning the first of its three outstanding performance
awards in 1985. LUJE also was honored in 2000. Lawrence has been
awarded 15 DBs since the competition’s inception, including six in
the past seven years.