Ensembles
Studying jazz at UNI offers many performance opportunities. In addition to Jazz Band One, Jazz Band Two and Jazz Band Three, our outstanding big bands, students are welcomed and encouraged to create and perform with jazz combos, coached by our esteemed faculty artists. Each semester, all jazz ensembles perform both on and off campus. Find out more about Jazz Band One and Jazz Band Two below.
Jazz Band One
The recipient of numerous awards and honors, UNI Jazz Band One, the School of Music’s top jazz performing group, is one of the premier collegiate jazz ensembles in the Midwest. Jazz Band One has appeared at festivals all over the country and in Europe. The band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1998, 1989, and 1995 and at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1998 and 1989. Jazz Band One has received outstanding band recognition at the Notre Dame (Indiana), Wichita (Kansas), Kansas City (Missouri), Eau Claire (Wisconsin), and Elmhurst (Illinois) Jazz Festivals. It has twice been a featured band (by invitation) at both the Greeley (Colorado) and KU (Kansas) Jazz Festivals, has performed at IAJE Conferences in Long Beach, California (2002) and Chicago, Illinois (2006, 1981), and has performed at the inaugural conference of the Jazz Education Network (JEN) in St. Louis in May of 2010. The band has also been the recipient of three Outstanding Performance Awards (1999, 1995 and 1993) in the collegiate big band category of Downbeat magazine’s Annual Student Music Awards.
Jazz Band One has long been a pioneer in innovative programming and instrumentation. Maintaining a balance of everything from classic Basie and Ellington works to contemporary original compositions, the ensemble’s repertoire consistently displays depth and diversity of style. The repertoire also showcases the versatility and high level of musicianship of the players in the band, as displayed on their full-length albums released annually since the early 1990s. (Listen HERE)
The band has collaborated with the top jazz artists in the world, including Maria Schneider, Clark Terry, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Clayton, Dick Oatts, Peter Erskine, Melissa Aldana, Carl Fontana, Donny McCaslin, Matt Wilson, Lee Konitz, Anat Cohen, Cuong Vu, David Sanchez, Kenny Wheeler, John Beasley, Dave Douglas, Ben Wendell, Mike Stern, Dave Liebman, and many others.
Mike Conrad took over as Director of Jazz Band One in the fall of 2026.
Jazz Band Two
Jazz Band Two is directed by Christopher Merz, who previously directed the band from 2000-2002 when he first joined the UNI Faculty. The group performs a wide repertoire, including classic/core jazz repertoire and compositions especially commissioned for the band. Past guest soloists and composer/conductors have included Bobby Shew, Paul McKee, J.C. Sanford, Don Jaques, Paul Tenney, and Steve Grismore.
UNI Jazz Combos
UNI Jazz Combos are laboratories for musical interaction and creative expression. Each group rehearses twice per week -- once with a faculty coach, and once without. The repertoire is usually made up of originals, arrangements, and transcriptions generated by the students. These ensembles typically contain five to eight musicians, with performances each semester in Bengtson Auditorium and off campus at venues like the Octopus on College Hill.