Two jazz singers who studied at the Frost School of Music in vastly different eras have been recognized with some of the most significant honors in jazz. Although they graduated 43 years apart, their achievements are a testimony to the continuing strength of the Frost School’s jazz vocal program, one of the first of its kind.
Carmen Lundy, a Miami native who was one of the Frost School’s first jazz vocal graduates in 1980, became one of the most revered and successful jazz artists of her generation. Now, the multi-GRAMMY-winning vocalist and composer has been named a 2026 NEA Jazz Masters Fellow, the most prestigious honor in jazz, given to living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the music.
Following in Lundy’s footsteps is Kate Kortum, who graduated in 2023, and just won the 2025 Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition, the top contest for jazz singers. Previous winners of what are known as the “Sassy” Awards include multi-GRAMMY winner Samara Joy (whose band includes several Frost School alumni) and fellow Frost School alumna Arianna Neikrug, B.M. ’15, also a successful singer.
Both Lundy and Kortum credited their studies at the Frost School with giving them a foundation for their careers and artistry. “My jazz journey’s earliest beginnings were the result of the invaluable lessons learned from faculty and classmates during my time at the Frost School of Music,” said Lundy, who was given one of the inaugural Frost Centennial Medals when she performed at the opening of the Knight Center for Music Innovation in 2023.
“Without [the Frost School’s] vision and commitment to being one of the first to offer a formal degree in high-quality jazz vocal studies… during my years at the University of Miami, I can’t imagine myself realizing my truest destiny in becoming a composer and vocalist,” Lundy said. “They’ve helped make dreams come true for so many.”
Decades later, Kortum seems well on her way to making her own dreams come true. She has already received multiple Downbeat Awards and performed at legendary jazz venues such as the Newport Jazz Festival and Birdland. The Houston native has worked with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, jazz singer Cyrille Aimée, and pianist and fellow Frost School alumnus Emmet Cohen. Kortum’s 2023 debut album, “Good Woman,” which has been streamed over 3.5 million times, and its 2025 follow-up, “Wild Woman,” garnered attention not just for her warm, distinctive sound, but for the way she re-imagined jazz standards written by men from a female perspective.
But winning the “Sassy” award was a new level of affirmation for Kortum. “I’ve watched this competition from afar for so many years and I never even thought I would make it to the top five,” she said. “It meant a lot to simply be up there honoring Sarah Vaughn in front of so many inspiring and legendary musicians.”
At the Frost School, Kortum studied in a program with a direct throughline between its founder, Larry Lapin, a pioneer in jazz vocal education, and current program director Kate Reid, who earned her master’s and doctorate under Lapin and succeeded him upon his retirement.
Kortum credited the program with empowering her as an artist. “The Frost School turned me upside down as a musician,” she said. “There were so many fundamentals I learned that allowed me to do what I do today.”
But it was not just the musical skills Kortum learned that inspired her.
“Though the classes and mentors I had there were amazing, I think what really shaped me was the student body. I met so many people who were just as passionate about music as I was. I had never been in an environment where your friends help push you and make you a better musician. I think the community I found at the Frost School of Music was one of the biggest parts of my development as a musician and person—the people I met there are still some of my closest friends and musical collaborators.”
