Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2023
Students from Kansas City Kansas Community College’s vocal and instrumental jazz ensembles have done it again, receiving a combined 15 awards in DownBeat Magazine’s 2023 Student Music Awards. DownBeat has the widest circulation of any jazz magazine in the United States and has been recognizing student achievement at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels with the Student Music Awards since 1978.
Combined with last year’s 15 awards, KCKCC has earned 30 Student Music Awards in the last two years. Since 2017, the year KCKCC received its first SMA, the only school to have earned more than 30 awards in a two-year period is the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in 2021 and 2022. No other community college in the United States has earned more than six awards in a single year during that time.
Looking at the period from 2017 to 2022, only five schools in the country have earned more SMAs than KCKCC - University of Miami, Caleb Chapman’s Soundhouse (a middle and high school honors program in American Fork, Utah), the University of Northern Colorado, the Berklee College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music.
“To be honest, it’s more than a little surreal. Every jazz educator I know would tell you that it’s a source of pride for your program when any student receives an SMA,” said Justin Binek, associate professor of music at KCKCC. “For this many of our students to be recognized, across the entire scope of our program, is something truly special.”
Among the awards are four Community College winners. Pianist Parker Woolworth was honored in the categories of Jazz Soloist, Jazz Combo (for the Parker Woolworth Trio) and Original Jazz Composition (for “Under the Table”), and Luck20 was recognized in the Blues/Pop/Rock Group category.
In addition to the overall awards, KCKCC received 11 other awards this year. These include:
“I think we continue to receive success from our program for a multitude of reasons,” said John Stafford, associate professor of music and director of choral activities. “Our students are exposed to many opportunities from professional musicians, and we encourage our students to think ‘outside of the box’ and perform a wide variety of musical styles. We also have built a sense of community within the department, among both students and faculty. This is important because the togetherness we have built translates musically during our performances. Our students are genuinely expressing themselves in the music and know that we are all in this journey together.”
Jim Mair, director of instrumental studies at KCKCC, said he believes KCKCC is becoming a destination location for students.
“Our graduates are all over the place in every line of work - theme parks, cruise ships, recording studios, world tours, film scoring, public school music, private school music, Black Dolphin and Green Lady Lounge jazz clubs,” he said. “John Stafford, Justin Binek and our adjuncts are creme de la creme teachers, and we specialize in real world skills, not just musically, but personally and business wise. It’s (the SMAs) the validation that we need that our teaching system is working at the highest level.”
Category: Academics, Arts and Culture
Keywords: Music