Jazz Ensemble 1 is UNLV’s premier Jazz Ensemble. In recent years, Jazz Ensemble 1 has won first place in the Downbeat Student Music Awards Large Jazz Ensemble (Graduate College) category 3 out of the previous 4 award cycles. Jazz Ensemble 1 has also performed at a variety of prestigious events, including the Jazz Education Network Conference, Midwest Clinic, and Monterey Jazz Festival. Jazz Ensemble 1 has had many prominent guest artists perform with it, including Kenny Rampton, Curt Miller, Clint Holmes, Don Cunningham, Laura Taylor, Gregg Bissonette, Tommy Igoe, Marlena Shaw, and even Joe Williams in the later years of his life. Jazz Ensemble 1 is directed by Professor Dave Loeb and Professor Nathan Tanouye. 

All members of this award-winning ensemble are selected by audition each semester, with primary consideration given to sight-reading and jazz-improvisation skills. You must be enrolled in order to participate in this class. Jazz Ensemble I has:

• Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival College Big Band Winner
• Down Beat Magazine Student Music Awards Large Jazz Ensemble Graduate College Outstanding Performance
• Toured Europe, Japan, Poland, South America, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.
• Performed at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival.
• Shared the top billing with the Freddie Hubbard Sextet.
• Been featured in concerts and recordings with artists-in-residence and special guest artists throughout the year.
• Recorded several CDs that have received critical acclaim, including the Downbeat Five-Star Award for Muy Caliente.
• Reno Jazz Festival Winner College Combo Division and Outstanding College Performers
• IAJE Sisters In Jazz Quintet
• Performed in concert with Manhattan Transfer, Bebe Neuwirth, Ben Vereen, Marvin Hamlish, Tommy Tune and the casts of Forbidden Broadway, Jeckyll and Hyde.

Other tours have taken the band to:

• The Kennedy Center
• The Village Vanguard
• The Hawaii International Jazz Festival
• The Telluride International Jazz Festival

In addition the band has performed with such artists as: