Jazz students from the Frost School of Music had one of their most outstanding showings ever in the 49th annual DownBeat Student Music Awards. The jazz world’s leading publication gave 13 individual and four ensemble awards to students from the Frost School’s storied jazz program, which are announced in the magazine’s June issue.
Hundreds of aspiring young artists, from middle school to graduate students, submit recordings and scores to DownBeat for what are sometimes called the GRAMMY Awards of jazz education. The awards also cite faculty mentors, paying tribute to the teachers shaping the next generation of jazz musicians.
Trumpet player and 2026 graduate Sam Leviatin was named three times, an exceptional achievement. Leviatin was the undergraduate college winner for outstanding original composition for both large ensemble and small ensemble/combo, and also won the graduate college award for outstanding soloist, small jazz ensemble/combo, with his group, the Sam J. Leviatin Quintet. His mentor was GRAMMY-winning trumpeter, composer, and professor Brian Lynch.
Four ensembles were cited in the Blues/Pop/Rock categories. The Frost Fusion Ensemble was the undergraduate winner for Blues/Pop/Rock group, while the Frost Funk Ensemble won for graduate Blues/Pop/Rock group. This is the 25th year in a row that one of these groups, mentored by beloved veteran faculty member and Frost School alum Steve Rucker, has won a DownBeat student award in this category. Additionally, the Hammond B3 Ensemble, mentored by Renato Diz, won for outstanding performance in the graduate Blues/Pop/Rock group category. Drummer and doctoral student Sebastian Kuchczynski, a Polish Fulbright Scholarship recipient also mentored by Diz, was honored for outstanding performance as a Blues/Pop/Rock soloist in the graduate category—proof that musical talent crosses cultural borders.
Leah Rutherford was the undergraduate winner for vocal jazz soloist, and Frost Extensions was honored as the graduate winner for small vocal jazz ensemble/combo. Associate professor Kate Reid, the devoted director of the Jazz Vocal program, was the outstanding mentor to both.
Assistant professor Stephen Guerra Jr., director of the Studio Jazz Writing program, mentored three graduate college winners for arranging. They were the multi-talented Justin Kinchen, named for outstanding arrangement—studio orchestra for his jazz arrangement for his “Maiden Voyage;” jazz composer and band leader Chelsea McBride, for jazz arrangement—studio orchestra for “Fortress of Solitude;” and jazz composer Jorge Machain (who won second place in the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers 2025 Student Competition’s Bill Conti Big Band Arranging contest and was named the Frost School’s 2026 outstanding graduate student) who was honored for outstanding arrangement—big band for his jazz arrangement of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
Florence Hughes, a multi-talented jazz trombonist who got both her master’s and bachelor’s in the Frost School’s Media Scoring and Production program, was the graduate college winner for outstanding recording in the engineered studio recording category. She was mentored by Dana Salminen, an adjunct professor of music engineering who is also director of production services.
The remaining honorees were all winners in outstanding soloist categories. Pianist Benjamin Collins-Siegel, a freshman mentored by professor Martin Bejerano, was the undergraduate winner for jazz soloist. Trumpeter and Yamaha Young Performing Artist Jacob Batchelder and trombonist Pablo Muller were both named graduate college winners for outstanding soloist for small jazz ensemble/combo with the Frost Septet; both were mentored by professor Chuck Bergeron. And alto saxophonist Paolo Zulueta-Lomanno was also honored in the same category, although for the Horace Silver Ensemble, mentored by John Daversa, chair of the Jazz Studies Program.
