The MiraCosta College Music Department has received four 2021 Student Music Awards from the nation’s premier jazz magazine, DownBeat. The announcement will be published in the June issue of DownBeat.
- MiraCosta Oceanside Jazz Orchestra (MOJO)—Large Jazz Ensemble Community College Outstanding Performance
- Marcos Reyes—Engineered Studio Recording Community College Outstanding Recording
- Josias Miguel—Jazz Soloist Community College Winner (Tenor Saxophone)
- Arek Gralnic—Jazz Soloist Community College Outstanding Performance (Guitar)
Music Department Professor Steve Torok shared, "I am very proud of MOJO, our soloists, and our staff. The projects were completed under extremely challenging circumstances. Some were recorded partially on campus (before the COVID-19 shutdown in spring 2020), and completed asynchronously (online learning without a set class time) during spring and fall 2020. Most were completed fully asynchronously. The projects represent many, many hours of hard work for dedicated students and staff.”
Torok continued, “Moreover, I am very excited to highlight that one of our music tech and performance students received an award for outstanding engineered studio recording for a completely asynchronous project completed during fall 2020. This was Jazz Collective’s recording of Purcell’s Dido’s Lament. Of course, I am happy to share all of the great music created by our students during this truly unprecedented and challenging year.”
DownBeat magazine was first published in 1934 and is the most prominent jazz publication in the world. Every year the magazine selects the best student bands from around the country in a number of divisions. The bands submit recordings, which are then evaluated by a panel of internationally celebrated jazz performers and educators. The recordings are anonymous and ranked by the panel based solely on musicality.
To see the full list of this year’s winners, view the June 2021 issue at
downbeat.com.
