Celebrating a half-century of Jazz Studies at UNI, the nationally acclaimed Jazz Band One scheduled an anniversary concert on Feb. 16. Performance features included the premiere of four commissioned pieces from jazz band alumni and several alumni guest soloists. On Feb. 17, alumni bands and combos from three different eras were scheduled to perform. Jim Coffin, director of the first jazz band and "father of jazz" at UNI, was selected to serve as emcee. A rousing mass band finale of "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing," the theme of the show, climaxed the program.

"UNI was one of the first schools in the nation to embrace jazz in the academic arena," says Robert Washut, current director of Jazz Band One. "It was through the efforts of students that the Jazz Studies program came about."

Originating as a dance band formed and run by student musicians in the early 1950s, the UNI Jazz Studies program has grown to include several large and small jazz ensembles, as well as a full curriculum of jazz studies courses. Comparing the UNI Jazz Studies program with other programs across the nation, Arts Midwest saluted the UNI program as "one of the best."