In this one-hour weekly program, Rupert, a saxophonist, composer, record producer and recording artist, will present the stories of how jazz is deeply connected to conveying the history of America and will demonstrate how jazz tells those stories.

“WUCF is Central Florida’s Storyteller as well as providing Orlando’s jazz soundtrack,” says Phil Hoffman, WUCF executive director. “We are honored to work with Jeff Rupert on Jazz and the American Spirit as it embodies our mission of preserving and advancing the jazz art form to our Central Florida audience.”

Listeners can view the radio schedule at .

Really, that’s the name of the album – Good News! – and it has been in the top 50 on the three major jazz charts since it was released in July, even spending some time at No. 1 on the Roots Music Report’s chart. The band’s sixth album under Professor Jeff Rupert is charting higher than recordings by Van Morrison, Mike LeDonne and other notables.

The success of the band, made up of students in the university’s jazz studies program, is simple. “We work at promoting good music and artistic endeavors,” says Rupert, a tenor saxophonist.

Selections on the album include the works of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Antonio Carlos Jobim and others. The Good News! title comes from one of the songs on the album, which was composed by one of Rupert’s former teachers 30 years ago, Bob Mintzer.

This is the band’s first recording collaboration with the UCF Studio Orchestra, which joins on several songs. Other collaborations on the album are with The Jazz Professors (Rupert, Per Danielsson, Richard��Drexler, Bobby Koelble and Marty Morell), and guest vocalist Jeff “T-Bone” Gerard.

Rupert, director of UCF’s jazz studies, also is conductor of the Florida Symphony Youth Jazz Orchestra and founder of Flying Horse Records.

All sales from the album benefit the jazz studies program. CDs are available from and CDBaby, digital downloads are available at retailers, and the album is available on streaming platforms.

The band’s previous album, The Bat Swings! (2018), hit the top three national jazz airplay charts, reaching No. 1 on both the Roots Music Report and the North American College and Community Radio chart, as well as No. 29 on JazzWeek.

The band also will have an album of Ray Charles songs coming out in January. Rupert has spent some time in New York producing the vocal component of the album.

“Now we have the top writers and musicians collaborating with the band,” Rupert says. “It’s a great time at UCF.”

“This trifecta is a first,” said Jeff Rupert, director of the program and band. “It’s not often that college jazz programs receive this kind of recognition. The band shares the charts with Chick Corea, Nicholas Payton, Diana Krall, Peter Erskine and other luminaries in jazz.”

Big Man on Campus, released earlier this year, reached No. 7 on the North American College and Community Radio chart, No. 9 on the Roots Music Report, and No. 36 on Jazz Week.

The album is the eighth released by Flying Horse Records, the music label operated by the university to give students an outlet to record and learn about the world of music. The 11 songs on the album were composed by Henry Mancini, Billy Strayhorn, Antonio Carlos Jobim and others, including the title track B.M.O.C. by Rupert.

The band’s success can be attributed to “keeping artistry at the forefront of the project,” Rupert said. With graduations constantly changing the chemistry of the band, it’s always “like recruiting for a football team. At the beginning of the year I get a feel for the talent in the band once auditions are concluded. That’s when I can program and write for the band. This allows us to accentuate strengths and create scenarios that challenge the students.”

He said some of the notable jazz-studies students on Big Man on Campus include saxophonist Saul Dautch, guitarist Ryan Waszmer and freshman trombonist Christian Herrera.

Rupert joined one of the songs on saxophone, and Jeff Moore, dean of the College of Arts & Humanities, also added percussion on a couple of the tracks.

The band’s new student lineup will begin rehearsing in late August and start off the school year with an on-campus performance at 8 p.m. Sept. 29 in Room 101 of the Nicholson School of Communication. They’ll follow that up with a performance at the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival at 1 p.m. Oct. 14.

“We are happy to be cultivating an environment of excellence and relevance for our students,” Rupert said. “Stay tuned for our next release, The Bat Swings!,�� due out this fall – the music of Batman!.”

The performers at the April 7-14 festival will be just as varied, with presentations by university choral groups, orchestras and ensembles, pianists, percussionists, a jazz big band and others at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

The School of Performing Arts offerings are some of the many events to be presented at the third annual festival, which is free and open to the public. More than 1,000 university students, 100 faculty members and some collaborative programs with outside partners will showcase the performing arts along with visual arts, studio art, gaming, animation, photography and film.

Phoenix Song, the composition remembering the 49 victims of last summer’s Pulse tragedy in Orlando, was composed by David Brunner, interim associate director of the School of Performing Arts and a professor of music. The lyrics were by Scott Lounsbury, a friend and collaborator of his.

Brunner was asked to write the song for the Orange County High Schools’ all-county chorus, which premiered the piece in January.

The upcoming performance will be with 124 voices from UCF combined choirs at 7:30 p.m. April 9, and then with several hundred singers at 7 p.m. April 11 with invited middle and high school choirs and the UCF Alumni Choir. The middle and high school choirs are all part of a day of workshops presented by music alumni. The performing members of the Alumni Choir are returning from all across the country, some in the choral program as far back as 25 years ago.

“The intention of this song was not only to honor those directly involved in the Pulse nightclub tragedy, but all of us who were affected by it indirectly,” Brunner said. “I attended the observance at Lake Eola a few days after the event and was struck by the very strong feeling that we all realized that we belonged to each other. This sense of belonging, of hopefulness, is quite evident in the piece. I particularly was drawn to the lines ‘sing we our tomorrow’ and ‘we’re healing as we sing.’”

The Flying Horse Big Band also returns to the third annual festival this year to present a program called The Bat Swings!, new arrangements of the music from the 1960s Batman movie and TV show.

Jeff Rupert, director of jazz studies and a Pegasus Professor, said he wanted the student band to play the superhero’s songs after “watching the 1960s movies with my kids and enjoying the background music…It turns out there are a lot of funny and relevant lines from the show that we will draw from for the performance.”

The original theme was composed by Neal Hefti, while the incidental music composed and arranged by Nelson Riddle.

The Flying Horse Big Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 14.

Other performances at the festival include:

Piano Extravaganza! – April 8, selections by John Philip Sousa, Franz Liszt and others.

Choral Concert: That Music Always Round Me – April 9, a program that spans culture, times and places as chamber singers, the women’s chorus, university chorus and combined choirs perform songs of histories, heritage, joys and sorrows.

Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band Concert – April 10, music of Bernstein, Gershwin, Sousa, John Williams and others.

Woodwind Ensembles Concert – April 11, featuring performances by flute, clarinet and saxophone ensembles.

Percussion Festival – April 12, a day of workshops and performances culminates in a celebration featuring guest artist Makoto Nakura and the UCF Percussion Ensemble.

An Evening of Cello Celebration – April 13, new UCF cello professor, Si-Yan Darren Li, presents a program of solo and ensemble music spanning three centuries.

Collide Contemporary Music Series: Steve Reich’s Drumming – April 14, a collaboration between UCF Percussion, Voci Dance and Theatre UCF.

This is part of a series of stories about the April 7-14 events at UCF Celebrates the Arts 2017. All events are free, but tickets are required for performances and entrance into the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., Orlando. Ticketing and full schedule details are at .

Sullivan is a multi-instrumentalist, playing trumpet, flugelhorn, peck horn, drums, flute, and tenor, alto and soprano saxophones. He also serves as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and tours universities and schools around the world as a clinician, lecturer and jazz-workshop adjudicator.

“His associations with the most important figures in jazz from the bebop and hard bop era are without compare,” Rupert said.

The Flying Horse Big Band performance will be 8 p.m. in the Nicholson School of Communication auditorium (Rm 101). Tickets are $10 ($5 for students) and UCF students can attend for free.

The concert, hosted by the UCF School of Performing Arts, will be a medley of songs decided right before the show. This technique, known as “calling tune,” is common among jazz musicians, said UCF trumpet professor John Almeida. A musical virtuoso, Morrison is adept with the piano, trumpet, saxophone, double bass and all the brass instruments.

“We don’t know how many instruments Mr. Morrison will bring to the concert. He has a steamer trunk full of instruments and you can never tell which ones he’s going to bring out,” Almeida said.

The UCF Jazz Professors are are Jeff Rupert, Michael Wilkinson, Per Danielsson, Richard Drexler, Bobby Koelble and Marty Morell. All��are music faculty members at the university and active performers in the jazz industry. In addition to their solo works, together as a group they create albums that consistently reach the top 50 in the jazz charts. Most recently, their album Do That Again reached No. 6 in JazzWeek.

Tickets may be purchased in advance online or from the UCF School of Performing Arts Box Office and are $20 for general admission, $10 with a student ID, and free for students with UCF IDs. Doors will open at 8 p.m.

For more information about the .

Rob Schaer, ’02, won the principal trumpet audition for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Los Angeles, and Francis Franqui, ’04, won a spot as a bugler in the U.S. Army Fife and Drum Corps, the official ceremonial unit and escort to the president.

“Jobs like these in the music industry are very difficult to come by and those that get them are extremely gifted,” said John Almeida, associate professor of music at UCF.

After Schaer graduated from UCF with a Bachelor of Arts – Performance degree, he attended the ����ֱ�� of Southern California, where he earned a masters and doctorate in musical arts in 2008. Now that he won the Hollywood Bowl audition, he will be go through a two-year tenure process to secure the orchestra post permanently.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for me,” he said. “I’ve been quoted many times regarding the incredible instruction I received from UCF from professors.”

While at UCF, Schaer played in the wind ensemble, orchestra, jazz band and marching band. He also played in the pit for some of the Broadway performances at the university.

Now living in Glendale, Calif., Schaer has stayed busy performing and recording. He is a substitute musician with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and recently started working as a sub with the LA Opera. His current recording projects include Galavant and Agent Carter for ABC television as well as Family Guy and American Dad for Fox television. He also just started recording for Disney’s Zootopia, an animated cartoon movie, and The Boss, starring Melissa McCarthy, both scheduled for release in the spring.

Schaer said the support he’s received after graduation from his UCF professors has been remarkable.

“Both John Almeida and Lyman Brodie check on me weekly via phone, text or email. They really care about my career and are always looking for updates and to offer encouragement,” he said. “In the L.A. freelance world where sharks are constantly circling, it’s nice to have professors who are now friends who I can call and lean on at any moment.”

Franqui, who graduated as a liberal studies major with an emphasis in music education, lives in Texas and performs with the 1st Cavalry Division Band from Fort Hood, but will move to Washington in January to join the fife and drum corps.

The group performs at all armed-forces arrival ceremonies for visiting dignitaries and heads of state at the White House, and has participated in every presidential inaugural parade since President Kennedy’s in 1961.

He said his audition consisted of performing several trumpet songs and bugle calls.

“This is a culmination of a lot of dedication, passion and hard work. I committed to practicing at least six to eight hours a day for the last six months just for this audition,” Franqui said. “Being selected to play among such a fine group of musicians presents another huge opportunity for musical growth and inspiration.”

While at UCF he participated in the Marching Knights, the orchestra, wind ensemble, jazz ensemble, brass quintet and trumpet ensemble.��He also has since recorded with the Hai Dozo Brass Quintet in Japan and the Black Jack Brass quintet in Texas.

“My strong musical foundation was laid by great experiences that I acquired as a music student at UCF,” Franqui said. “I have lots of friends who went to other prestigious music programs to include music conservatories that didn’t have as rich of an experience as I did at UCF. The fact that UCF is surrounded by the entertainment business alone is a huge asset to any student trying to land an entertainment career.

“I was able to study with great professors such as John Almeida, Lyman Brodie, Jeff Rupert, Ron Ellis and Lazlo Marosi, to name a few. In addition, I had professional musicians in town to go to for help and guidance. We were exposed to amazing artists that would come to UCF to share their knowledge and experiences. My time at UCF was priceless.”

Franqui said he didn’t know what to expect when joining the Army Band program, but after two years of service, he said it was one of the best decisions of his life.

“I love performing with great musicians, traveling and entertaining huge audiences,” he said, “but most importantly, I get to serve my country doing what I am most passionate about.”

The Grammy process is in the early stages for the awards to be presented in 2016, and music-industry leaders are now voting on the names that made it to a short ballot to determine which musicians will become official nominees.

Making the short ballot were:

Into the Mystic was released this past summer, and Rupert describes it as a jazz big band album that includes new innovative and repertory works. Songs on the album are classics by Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, James Brown, Van Morrison, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, and others.

En Plein Air presents songs inspired by the art of Claude Monet. The Jazz Professors are made up of Rupert on tenor saxophone, Per Danielsson on piano, Richard Drexler on bass, Bobby Koelble on guitar, Michael Wilkinson on trombone, and Marty Morell on drums. A special guest on the album is Mike Mossman.

Both The Flying Horse Big Band and The Jazz Professors record on UCF’s Flying Horse Records.

Moore said Greensleeves was released in August and has been getting radio play in New York and Los Angeles. He said the arrangement of the traditional English song has a variety of influences, with predominantly an African and Afro/Cuban-inspired treatment.��

The official Grammy nominations are expected by early January.

Jeff Rupert, director of the Jazz Studies program at UCF, believes it is critical for students to be working side-by-side with active professional musicians.

“We are bringing in guest artists who have a strong presence in the professional world, so our students can communicate and interact with them,” said Rupert. “This fall we are collaborating on repertory works with in-demand artists Harry Allen and Chuck Redd, and learning and performing new works for jazz groups, like our suite for Miles Davis and James Brown at the Florida Music Educators convention in Tampa this January.”

The fall jazz season kicked off Sept. 24 with a performance and master class by jazz vibraphonist Chuck Redd. Rupert said Redd was impressed with UCF’s students.

“Chuck Redd told me that this has got to be one of the top jazz programs in the country, and certainly the best small jazz program,” Rupert said. “Other jazz programs have several hundred students. We have forty. This is a big deal.”

Alex Lewis, a trumpet player in his senior year, was conversely enthralled with Redd. “His improvisation is beautiful. It was not only how he was playing, but how he was listening and reacting musically to whatever someone else did. That allowed the music to grow and develop.”

Lewis has been a member of the Flying Horse Big Band since his first semester at UCF, in the fall of 2012. The Big Band is the premier student jazz ensemble on campus and students audition for a seat every semester. “This band has been the defining point of my university career. It is the highest thing I could have hoped for.”

The Flying Horse Big Band has a free concert in Winter Park at the Winter Park Autumn Art festival on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m.

The group will also be performing with tenor saxophonist Harry Allen on Friday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. in the Communications Building Auditorium on the UCF campus. Tickets for “Harry Allen plays Harry Allen with the Flying Horse Big Band” cost $10 and can be purchased in advance.

Allen has more than 30 recordings to his name and frequently tours the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His many accolades include the New York Nightlife Award for Outstanding Jazz Combo Performance and Gold Disk Awards for three of his CDs. He has performed and recorded with Rosemary Clooney, John Pizzarelli, Tony Bennett, James Taylor and Ray Brown, among many others.

Ryan Wasner, a junior jazz studies major focusing on jazz guitar, says that performing with guest artists such as Redd and Allen gives the students insight into the world of jazz. This semester, he is particularly excited to be on the stage with Allen.

“We are playing music that [Allen] wrote, specifically for this concert,” he said. “These guys have a lot of experience and insight. They’ve experienced what we are trying to do. Most of the time, people in jazz are wanting to give back. It’s a social art; they want to be mentors to a younger generation.”

The Flying Horse Big Band will give its final performance of the fall semester on Dec. 4 in the Nicholson School of Communication auditorium. In addition to the Flying Horse Big Band performances, jazz enthusiasts can attend free performances by student jazz combos and ensembles in the UCF Rehearsal Hall at 8 p.m. Oct. 20 and 27, and Nov. 10, 17 and 24.

In addition, two of the university’s jazz ensembles, the Jazz Professors and The Flying Horse Big Band, are producing albums for UCF’s record label, Flying Horse Records. The record label has produced six albums and another is in the works. The most recent release by the Jazz Professors, En Plein Air, reached No. 29 on JazzWeek’s charts this summer and the Big Band’s recent release,��“Into the Mystic” was listed as “Chartbound” by JazzWeek this July.

Performances at a glance:

Flying Horse Big Band Concert

Sunday, October 11, 2015; 1:00 pm

The UCF Flying Horse Big Band will perform at the band shell in Central Park, Winter Park, as part of the Winter Park Art Festival.

��Dz���:��Free and open to the public

Location: Central Park, Winter Park Band Shell

407-823-1500

��

Harry Allen Plays Harry Allen, with UCF’s Flying Horse Big Band

Flying Horse Big Band

Special Guest Harry Allen, tenor saxophone

Friday, October 16, 2015; 8:00 pm

��Dz���:��$10, $5 non-UCF students, free with UCF ID
Location:��UCF Communications Bldg., Auditorium (101)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

Jazz Chamber Group Concert Series: Concert I

Tuesday, October 20, 2015; 8:00 pm

Featuring performances by UCF Student Jazz Combos

Cost: Free and open to the public

Location: UCF Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

Jazz Chamber Group Concert Series: Concert II

Tuesday, October 27, 2015; 8:00 pm

Featuring performances by UCF Student Jazz Combos.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Location: UCF Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

Jazz Ensemble II Concert

Tuesday, November 10, 2015; 8:00 pm

The UCF Jazz Ensemble II presents a concert under the direction of Michael Wilkinson.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Location:��UCF Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

Jazz Chamber Groups Concert Series: Concert III

Tuesday, November 17, 2015; 8:00 pm

Featuring performances by UCF student Jazz Combos.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Location:��UCF Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

Jazz Chamber Groups Concert Series: Concert IV

Tuesday, November 24, 2015; 8:00 pm

Featuring performances by UCF student Jazz Combos.

Cost: Free and open to the public

Location:��UCF Rehearsal Hall, Auditorium (116)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

Flying Horse Big Band Concert

Friday, December 4, 2015; 8:00 pm

��Dz���:��$10, $5 non-UCF students, free with UCF ID
Location:��UCF Communications Bldg., Auditorium (101)

4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816

407-823-1500

��

The English playwright’s masterpieces have been translated into many languages, but the arrangements of UCF’s Flying Horse Big Band with vocals coordinated by the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre reinforces that music is the universal language.

“Shakespeare Swings!” will give the bard’s time-tested lyrics and sonnets a new sound at 8 p.m. April 11 as part of UCF’s free April 10-15 arts festival. The weeklong event of artistic presentations by university students, faculty members and partners will showcase studio art, music, theatre, dance, gaming, animation, photography and film in one venue for the first time.

The Flying Horse Big Band, formerly the UCF Jazz Ensemble I, is composed of students from the university’s jazz studies program under director Jeff Rupert. Rupert, whose range of talents includes saxophonist, composer, record producer and recording artist, said it was a great opportunity to bring together the mash-up with the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre.����

“Our collaborative production of jazz-music-meets-Shakespeare came together naturally because many composers and musicals already embody Shakespeare and/or are inspired by Shakespeare’s works,” Rupert said. ��“In our performance of ‘Such Sweet Thunder’ for UCF Celebrates the Arts, as it relates to the famed balcony scene of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ the tenor saxophone will represent Romeo and the alto saxophone will represent Juliet.”

When UCF announced the arts festival, community partners were asked to help develop some collaborative ideas.

“I had been dreaming of doing some sort of Shakespeare cabaret production to showcase the love songs of Shakespeare,” said Jim Helsinger, artistic director at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, which has been a UCF partner for 26 years. Helsinger credits Jeff Moore, chair of the UCF Music Department, with suggesting a Shakespeare program with the UCF jazz studies program.��

The world-premiere revue will hit a high note with a variety of original compositions, swing music and Broadway standards.

“With much of Shakespeare we have the lyrics but not the music so our performance will have new interpretations, such as for ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ and ‘The Wind and The Rain’ from ‘Twelfth Night,’” said Helsinger.

Rupert said developing the program was a fun project for the jazz students.

“The band even helped to come up with the title of ‘Shakespeare Swings!,’”�� he said.

The singers for the show will be local performers Michael Andrew and Andrea Canny, with guest artist Sisaundra Lewis, a fan favorite on the sixth season of NBC’s “The Voice.”

“Shakespeare Swings!” is one of several musical collaborations planned for UCF and select partners during UCF Celebrates the Arts. Some other partnerships include UCF Choirs providing vocals for the Orlando Repertory Theatre’s production of “Civil War Voices,” which uses diaries and letters to tell the true stories of people who lived through the war, and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsal for “Tosca” with an instructional class for voice students.

All events to UCF Celebrates the Arts 2015 are free, but tickets are required for many of the programs, including the performance of “Shakespeare Swings!”�� The April 10-15 festival will feature studio art, music, theatre, dance, gaming, animation, photography and film at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., Orlando.�� Visit ��for more information, tickets��and updated scheduling.