Northern Texas isn’t just known for pro and college sports teams. The University of North Texas boasts an impressive music department, as these four albums testify.
Jay Saunders leads a big band of students on two swinging discs. The arrangements are clever and catchy, with 
frantic sections hitting hard on “Top Fuel Pete vs TheTav-ski” and the team doing double time on “Sax Alley.” A creative read of “Nardis” as well as a greasy and shuffling “Green Onions” let everyone get a chance at the front, but the impressive arrangements are a sideman’s delight. The future is here!
For Airstream Artistry, Riggs leads his team through material that leans toward Count Basie’s patented KC swing and Thad Jones’ more sophisticated big band nuances. Breezy flutes are sleek on Jones’ “61st and Rich It” and a hip samba features Tim Miller’s guitar on “Little ‘J’.” The saxes swagger on Basie-ite pieces “Blues in Hoss’ Flat” and Stephen Smith’s trombone slides safely into third base on “Booze Brothers” and John Jeaneretts’ beefy tenor takes you to 12th Street and Vine during “At Long Last, Love.” Toe tapping!
Rich DeRosa does the arranging and most of the composing on the single disc with him and the UNT. DeRosa does some clever work with “Take the ‘A’ Train” as well as an elegiac read of Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes” which includes lovely reeds. A tangential “Fugue for Thought” has some dreamy bass work, and the 14 minute opus “Suite for an Anniversary” is grandiose with fanfare. Forward thinking.
Alan Baylokc is the director of the UNT’s One O’Clokc Lab Band, and the team focuses on precision section work. The trumpets get a workout on Don Menza’s “Dizzyland” and the team grooves with a soulful B3 for Ellington’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light.” The team snaps to attention on a crisp “My Shining Hour” and a 13 minute tribute “Myself When I Am Mingus’ includes bluesy sections, agonizing trombones and sighing alto saxes. The rhythm team shows how to boogaloo on “Peacock’s Crown Blues” and shows some nice reed tones on Chic Corea’s “500 Miles High.” North Texas is making a nice new generation of jazzers.