UNT One O’Clock Lab Band album nominated for two Grammys

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The University of North Texas’ world-renowned One O’Clock Lab Band and its director, Steve Wiest, have been nominated for Grammy awards.

Lab 2009, the band’s most recent album, earned a nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Wiest earned a Best Instrumental Composition nomination for "Ice-Nine" on the same album.

“I am so thrilled the hard work of the talented students of the One O’Clock Lab Band has been recognized in this way,” Wiest said. “A double nomination is historic for the band and will send a clear message to the world as to the quality of our jazz program.”

The nominations for the 52^nd annual Grammy awards were announced Wednesday night (Dec. 2). The band already has a tour planned for California in January and plans to attend the awards show Jan. 31 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Lab 2009 is available for purchase by calling the Jazz Studies office at 940-565-3743 or by using the mail-order information at www.jazz.unt.edu. Videos of selected tracks from Lab 2009 are available at www.youtube.com/northtexasjazz.

Previous nominations

The One O’Clock Lab Band has a history of Grammy nominations. In the 1970s, the band received Grammy nominations for performance on Lab ’75 and Lab ’76. Mike Bogle earned a nomination for his arrangement of “Got a Match” on the band’s Lab ’89 album. In the 1990s, former One O’Clock Lab Band Director Neil Slater’s piece “Values” from the band’s Lab ’91 album earned a nomination for composition.

In December 2007, Wiest clinched a nomination in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category for his arrangement of “Besame Mucho” from the CD The One and Only Maynard Ferguson.

About the One O’Clock Lab Band

The Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, UNT’s premier jazz ensemble, has performed and toured throughout the world — including Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and The Netherlands. The band performs under the direction of Wiest, a Grammy-nominated composer/arranger and associate professor of music. The UNT jazz program — the first of its kind in the nation — is housed within the College of Music, one of the largest and most comprehensive music schools in the nation.

About Steve Wiest

Wiest joined the UNT College of Music faculty in Fall 2007 and began directing the world-renowned One O’Clock Lab Band in August 2008. Wiest is a former trombonist and arranger for the legendary Maynard Ferguson’s band and a former member of the Doc Severinsen Big Band. He has performed extensively in the United States, South America, Australia, Japan and Europe. Wiest has also served as assistant director of jazz studies at The University of Texas at Arlington and director of jazz studies and trombone at The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He earned a master’s degree from UNT and a bachelor of music degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.