Jazz Ensemble 1

J.B. Scott, director

The University of North Florida Jazz Ensemble 1, led by director J.B. Scott, is the flagship ensemble of the prestigious University of North Florida Jazz Studies Program. Thanks to the visionary leadership of Rich Matteson in 1986, UNF's Jazz Ensemble 1 has enjoyed the reputation of being one of the finest collegiate jazz ensembles worldwide. That the majority of the group members of UNF JE 1 are undergraduates makes this achievement that much more impressive.

Jazz Ensemble 1 has won numerous group and individual awards and has been consistently recognized by such publications as Cadence, Jazz Times, Jazz Educators Journal, and DownBeat Magazine for its improvisational prowess and precision ensemble playing. JE 1 was the first collegiate winner of the prestigious Monterey Next Generation Festival in California. The band has consistently been invited to perform at prestigious stages in both the U.S, Europe, and Asia, for the former International Association of Jazz Educators Conferences in Atlanta, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans, for Jazz Educators Network Conferences, for the prestigious Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, and for jazz festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Suncoast Jazz Festival, the Mobile Jazz Festival, and annually at the Savannah Jazz Festival and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival.

A special component of the UNF Jazz Studies Program is the Great American Jazz Series, which regularly brings in stellar jazz artists as residents. This series, along with other opportunities, has enabled Jazz Ensemble 1 to perform in concert with 100's of esteemed artists,  including Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, The Count Basie Orchestra, Joe Henderson, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Diane Schuur, Dave Brubeck, Joe Williams, Ernie Watts, Dianne Reeves, the Air Force Airmen of Note, Louie Bellson, Dr. Billy Taylor, Maria Schneider, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi, Bill Watrous, the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra, Arturo Sandoval, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis and the Dizzie Gillespie Allstars, Nicolas Payton, Kevin Mahogany, Wynton Marsalis, the Navy Commodores, Christine and Ingrid Jensen, Branford Marsalis, Ed Calle, Kurt Elling, Doc Severinsen, Carmen Bradford, Christian McBride, Michael Mossman, Luis Bonilla, Ignacio Berroa, Allen Vizutti, Richard Stoltzman, and many others.

Contact J.B. Scott, coordinator of Jazz Studies, the Great American Jazz Series and director of JE1, at (904) 620-3847 for more information.