During December’s UNLV Fall Jazz Festival, guest artist Danny de los Reyes of the Zac Brown Band jammed with fellow Vegas percussion great Pepe Jimenez.
Shaking my head in amazement at the rhythms rising from the Artemus Ham Hall stage, I turned to the person seated next to me to say, “This place should be filled for this show.”
But the seat was empty, as was most of the row. So I’m saying it to you, as the Spring Jazz Festival approaches. The three-night celebration of jazz, featuring UNLV’s top student ensembles and guest artists, returns to Ham Hall from Monday through Wednesday.
Before digging into the specifics of each night’s program, know that you can’t go wrong with any or all of the performances (and at $14.25 online, $11.25 at the box office, with free parking and reasonably priced snacks, it’s a low-risk venture anyway).
A revered jazz program
UNLV Jazz Studies program director Dave Loeb leads musically, and with his unbending passion for the program. When discussing his career achievements, he’s apt to start with, “We have won our 53rd Downbeat Award,” and not, “Our students and graduates have performed with every superstar who has used live musicians on the Strip.” Both are true.
A keyboard master, Loeb has played on TV shows such as “Family Guy,” “Quantum Leap,” “Hill Street Blues” and the Emmy Awards telecast and movies such as “Ted,” “The Birdcage” and “Pocahontas.” He’s backed trumpet icon Arturo Sandoval, sax great Tom Scott and the late Vegas jazz legend Joe Williams, the benefactor of the UNLV Jazz Studies Program.
But Loeb hardly ever offers up his own resume. He’s fast to note the musicians’ appearances at prestigious events, including the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival and the main Monterey Jazz Festival. The program is revered in the national jazz community.
And there is no overstating the impact that musicians educated at UNLV have made on our concert productions in Las Vegas and on tour. Over the years, if you have seen Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, Andrea Bocelli, Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Adele, Michael Buble, Donny and Marie Osmond (together or solo) or Nas at the Encore Theater, you have seen at least one UNLV Jazz Studies alum on stage.
UNLV jazz professor Nathan Tanouye, a member of Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns, is a typically underappreciated ambassador for the program. The man known as “Trombonist to the Stars” has written Dion’s horn charts, and he performed with her on the Strip and on tour.
A favorite story: I caught a Dion show in Nashville, Tennessee, in January 2020. While walking through sound check with an AEG Presents official, I stopped at the stage as Tanouye and baritone sax great Eric Tewalt, also educated at UNLV, rehearsed. I shouted, “You are a long way from home!”
The executive asked, “How do you know those guys?”
“UNLV jazz program,” I said, then told the story of the school’s music department.
Spring fest schedule
A look at the Spring Jazz Festival lineups (all shows start at 7:30 p.m., go to unlv.edu for intel):
Night 1, Monday: The Harmon Avenue Vocal Jazz Ensemble opens, under the direction of Shaddai Johnson, along with Jazz Ensemble III, directed by Dylan Musso. The evening is a mix of vocal artistry and instrumental ensemble performances.
Night 2, Tuesday: The Studio Scarlet Jazz Vocal Ensemble, directed by Lara Vivian Smith, appears alongside the Latin Jazz Ensemble under the direction of the aforementioned Jimenez (who backed Carlos Santana for two years). The program also includes a performance by Jazz Ensemble I, co-directed by Loeb and Tanouye, with a special appearance by guest faculty saxophone artist Adam Schroeder.
Night 3, Wednesday: The festival concludes with Jazz Ensemble II, directed by Tristan Selzler; the Maryland Parkway Jazz Vocal Ensemble under the direction of Gary Fowler; and the Contemporary Jazz Ensemble directed by Julian Tanaka.
Tanouye, as humble a genius as you will find, once pointed to the Downbeat Awards as a sense of collective achievement.
“This really puts UNLV more on the map, and it’s really just a way of getting the university’s name out there,” the trombonist said. “There is a meaning and a sense of pride in what we do.”
And to the uninitiated, we say, get there now and thank us later.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.