A jazz bassist at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been named the most outstanding instrumental soloist of the 2004 Down Beat Magazine Student Music Awards.
Gonzalo Teppa, a senior majoring in bass performance, is the latest CU-Boulder student to be recognized in Down Beat's annual national competition for high school and college jazz musicians. CU-Boulder students and performing groups have won multiple awards in each of the last three competitions.
Serafin Sanchez, a saxophonist and CU-Boulder senior in the jazz program, also was honored in the soloist category as a runner-up.
"It's pretty significant to receive two awards in the instrumental soloist category, including the overall winner," said CU-Boulder jazz studies Director John Davis. "That says an awful lot about the level of students we're proud to have at CU-Boulder as part of the jazz program."
The variety of the Down Beat awards given to CU-Boulder students over the past three years also is notable, Davis said. A CU-Boulder big band, small jazz combo and multiple student arrangers, composers and soloists have been recognized.
"I think that's a sign that jazz has really become a prominent fixture at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the university and the College of Music can be proud of our students and what we're doing. We couldn't be happier," Davis said.
The CU-Boulder jazz studies program features top-notch instructors including Davis, bassist Paul Erhard, saxophonist Tom Myer, pianist and arranger Michael Pagan, trumpeter Terry Sawchuk and drummer/vibraphonist Douglas Walter. This year, the program welcomes renowned trumpet performer and jazz educator Brad Goode as the newest appointed jazz faculty member. For the past seven years, Goode has served on the faculty of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
For more information about the CU-Boulder Jazz Studies department, go to the Web site at .
Down Beat magazine has chronicled the history of jazz and blues music since 1934. Each year it accepts taped submissions from scholastic and collegiate musicians for consideration in the student awards competition. The awards are widely considered to be the most prestigious national recognition for jazz students, and a number of winners have gone on to become stars of the international jazz community.
For more information on Down Beat Magazine, visit .