Studio Music and Jazz Alumni

An experienced musician, Brian Logan has performed with the South Florida Symphony, Huxford Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony, Florida Grand Opera, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. 

Currently, Brian performs as Principal Euphonium and Utility Trombonist with the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

"Frost gave me the space and mentorship to develop as a performer and as a teacher.” 

Arianna Neikrug, B.M. ‘15, was named as a finalist in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Arianna is a Miami-based jazz/pop/R&B vocalist originally from Los Angeles. While at the Frost School of Music, Arianna sang lead soprano in the Downbeat award-winning ensembles “Extensions” and “JV1” under the direction of Dr. Kate Reid, with whom she studied privately. In March 2015, “Extensions” placed first in the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, where Arianna received an outstanding soloist award.  Only 22 years old, Arianna has already made her mark in the jazz world and has shared the stage with various artists including Al Jarreau, Steve Miller, Alice Cooper, Kenny Burrell, Neil Young, Mindy Abair, James Moody, George Benson, Karrin Allyson, Gretchen Parlato, and Roseanna Vitro. She has also had the privilege of performing at Dazzle Jazz Club in Denver and at Catalina Bar and Grill, LA’s hottest jazz club, twice in the last year. Arianna dedicates much of her time to performing here in Miami. Prior to her entrance into the Frost School of music, Arianna attended the Academy of Music at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, where she pursued her interests in jazz voice and musical theater. She sang lead soprano in the award-winning Hamilton Vocal Jazz Ensemble for three years and has been studying voice and piano privately outside of school for years. Arianna was selected as the first soprano for the 2010 Grammy Vocal Jazz Ensemble, was a finalist in the 2010 Zeta Rho Foundation Talent Hunt, and received an Honorable Mention award for popular voice from the Young Arts Association.

Dan Andrews, alto saxophone, majored in Studio Music and Jazz Instrumental Performance at the Frost School of Music where he was a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the inaugural Stamps Jazz Quintet, 2013. A high achiever both academically and musically, he studied saxophone with Dale Underwood and Gary Keller, and is a proficient woodwind doubler (flute, clarinet, soprano sax). Originally from Finksburg, Maryland, Andrews had been playing alto saxophone for over ten years before attending Frost. Dan Andrews was named an “Outstanding Soloist” at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival (2010), and also the “Jazz Soloist” winner in DownBeat magazine’s 34th Annual Student Music Awards in the Undergraduate Outstanding College Performances category (2011). The Stamps Jazz Quintet was also chosen by DownBeat as the Jazz Group winner in the same year and category.

Michael Piolet, drums, majored in Studio Music and Jazz Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the inaugural Stamps Jazz Quintet, Class of 2013. He studied drum-set and jazz percussion privately with Steve Rucker and John Yarling. As a member of the Stamps Jazz Quintet at the Frost School of Music, he performed at the Monterey Next Generation Festival in California and the 2011 and 2012 JEN conferences in New Orleans and Louisville. 

He was also featured on the Stamps Jazz Quintet’s self-titled debut album on Summit Records. The Stamps Jazz Quintet was chosen as the “Jazz Group” winner in DownBeat magazine’s 34th Annual Student Music Awards in the Undergraduate Outstanding College Performances category (2011). Michael Piolet performed in a variety of other jazz groups at Frost, including the award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Florida with flutist Nestor Torres and at Festival Miami with saxophonist Dave Liebman, both in 2012.

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Piolet has regularly performed with local pros throughout South Florida and he often returns to Chicago to perform professionally. He recently performed in a program sponsored by the Steans Music Institute in Chicago honoring Diane Dorn, with Rufus Reid coaching.

James Suter, bass, majored in Studio Music and Jazz Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the inaugural Stamps Jazz Quintet, Class of 2013. He studied acoustic and electric bass privately and performed in a variety of other jazz groups at Frost ranging from the Funk/Fusion Ensemble to the R&B Ensemble.  Originally from Hollywood, Florida, James Suter has performed professionally throughout South Florida for nearly a decade.

As a member of the Stamps Jazz Quintet at the Frost School of Music, Suter has performed in concert with saxophonist Chris Potter, as well as with Gary Burton at Festival Miami, and also with the Matt Wilson Quartet. The Stamps Jazz Quintet was chosen as the “Jazz Group” winner in DownBeat magazine’s 34th Annual Student Music Awards in the Undergraduate Outstanding College Performances category (2011). Suter is featured on the Stamps Jazz Quintet’s self-titled debut album on Summit Records. He has presented workshops and concerts with the quintet while on tour to Colorado in 2010, and performed with the Stamps Jazz Quintet at the 2011 Jazz Education Network (JEN) conference in New Orleans. The group also shared the stage in 2011 with legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy at a private event.

Stephen Szabadi, trombone, majored in Studio Music and Jazz Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the Stamps Jazz Quintet, Class of 2013. He studied trombone privately with Dante Luciani and performed in the Frost Concert Jazz Band and the Frost R&B Ensemble. He also studied pharmacology and history while at the University of Miami.

Originally from Los Angeles, he has played at Playboy Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Lincoln Center, Disney Concert Hall, and various venues around Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and the Netherlands.

In 2011, Stephen Szabadi performed with the Frost School’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra in a JazzRoot concert in tribute to George Gershwin presented by Larry Rosen at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, sharing the stage with music pros Dave Grusin, Michael Feinstein, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Mark O’Connor, and others. In 2012, he performed in a Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra concert with a multi-GRAMMY award-winning vocal group Take 6, in 2012, featuring arrangements by Gordon Goodwin. Szabadi has also concertized and recorded with other top jazz groups while at Frost.

Luis Federico Vindver, B.M. ‘08, is a touring musician, songwriter, and producer. He toured with Ricky Martin as a keyboard player, arranger, and co-producer of the show. He traveled to Europe, Asia, and South America as well as writing a song in his most recent album.

Vindver has worked as pianist and arranger of Franco de Vita, where he recorded his “Primera Fila” album, which won two Latin GRAMMYs, including “Best Male Pop Album.” He received an award in Billboard magazine in the music and advertising convention for his song called “Miracle,” written for a documentary about children in India.

Vindver majored in jazz performance at the Frost School of Music.

Dr. Scott Routenberg, M.M. '03, M.M. '05, D.M.A. '08, enjoys a versatile and prolific career as an award-winning composer, arranger, jazz pianist and orchestrator. For over a decade, Routenberg's "groundbreaking"¹ and genre-bending music has garnered widespread critical acclaim, with the artist emerging as a "distinctive original voice"² in modern jazz composition. 

In 2004, Scott was the first jazz songwriter to win the coveted John Lennon Songwriting Contest Maxell Song of the Year for his electro-acoustic big band composition Bandwidth (EMI Records). Other notable awards and honors include The ASCAP Foundation/Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize (2016), the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers Symposium SONIC Award for Best Arrangement (2017), the ASCAP David Rose Scholarship, Composer Scholar at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles, the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award (three-time winner), a participant in the ASCAP Television and Film Scoring Workshop and the DOWNBEAT Student Award for Best Extended Length Composition.

As a jazz arranger, Routenberg has been commissioned by multiple GRAMMY-winning ensembles and artists, including the Metropole Orkest (conducted by Vince Mendoza) and harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy.  His "inventive" arrangements "breathe new life" into the music and "leave the audience spellbound" (Jeremy Monteiro).  Routenberg's orchestral music has been premiered by the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Youth Symphony, among many other ensembles.  World premieres include Austria, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, China, Singapore and Thailand, and domestic premieres include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Los Angeles.

Hailed as a "rising-star pianist" who has "found his own voice in the modern mainstream" (Scott Yanow, JAZZIZ), Routenberg has performed with internationally renowned jazz musicians the likes of Howard Levy and Christian Howes and has opened for jazz guitar legend John Scofield.  Exhibiting a "formidable mastery of keyboard technique" and a singing tone "like drops of liquid gold,"³ Routenberg has thrilled and delighted audiences throughout the country. Jazz festival and club performances include the Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, the North Sea Jazz Festival, Indy Jazz Fest, The Green Mill (Chicago), The Jazz Kitchen (Indianapolis), The Velvet Note (Atlanta), The Palladium (Carmel, IN), and The Biltmore Hotel (Coral Gables). The Scott Routenberg Trio's debut album on Summit Records, Every End is a Beginning (2017), reached #65 on the JazzWeek radio chart, #33 on the Roots Music Report Top 50 Jazz Albums, and was named Jazz Album of the Week by soulandjazz.com. The Creative Source's Dr. Brad Stone calls the album "an early candidate for jazz record of the year."

Scott's jazz piano teachers include Brazilian legend Manfredo Fest (keyboardist and arranger for Sergio Mendes, Brazil '66 and Bossa Rio), Chip Crawford (Grammy Award-winning pianist for Gregory Porter on Blue Note records), and Vince Maggio (student of Oscar Peterson and roommate of Bill Evans). His composition and arranging teachers include Gary Lindsay, Ron Miller, and Raul Murciano. Routenberg is a graduate of the University of Miami Frost School of Music and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Dr. Routenberg is currently the Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano at Ball State University.

¹  Andrew Paul, American Diplomat, and Cultural Attaché, on the Ukraine premiere of the Concerto for Jazz Violin and Orchestra, 2014.

²  Fred Sturm (1951-2014), jazz composer and educator.

³  Louise Causey-Lewis, Hilton Head Jazz Society Scholarship Concert, 2003.

"My time as a graduate student at the Frost School of Music was no less than transformative for my life and career as a composer, arranger, and jazz pianist. The exceptional faculty, who were true mentors, challenged and inspired me on a daily basis, instilling both the technical foundation and versatility necessary to succeed as a modern musician. Recording in state-of-the-art studios with professional-level student ensembles and engineers and tapping into our incredible network of alumni across the world and in every facet of the music industry have proven invaluable."

Sam Howard, B.M. ‘03, is very active in playing sessions and shows on upright and electric bass and vocals. He has toured the world with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rhythm Road program and toured with folk singer Ruth Moody (The Ruth Moody Band), The Tony Furtado Band, and the Nathaniel Talbot Quartet.

He has released two instrumental solo albums with the Sam Howard Band, and is currently working on an album of original country songs to be released soon. Howard is a member of Americana chamber-pop band National Flower and plays with the electrifying guitarist Scott Pemberton.

He majored in jazz performance at the Frost School of Music. 

Alan Chan, B.M. ’01, a Los Angeles-based composer and alumnus of the Frost School of Music, was selected as the recipient of The ASCAP Foundation’s George Duke Commissioning Prize. The $10,000 prize, created to honor the legacy of musician George Duke, allowed Chan to write a new work for the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (SJO) ensemble for their 2016-17 season. Chan’s submission was selected by the SJO’s Music Advisory Board out of a pool of national submissions ranging from leading jazz veterans to young composers. Chan completed his undergraduate work in Music Theory and Composition at the Frost School. Expanding on his classical background, Chan then began composing for jazz big band-style orchestras under the mentorship of Grammy Award nominee Gary Lindsay in Miami, and later for Shelly Berg (now Dean of the Frost School) and Vince Mendoza in Los Angeles. Berg and Mendoza are GRAMMY Award nominee and winner, respectively.  Chan’s music has been recognized by the American Composers Forum, New Music USA, and The Ucross Foundation, among others. In 2011, he founded the Alan Chan Jazz Orchestra, which is comprised of top studio and jazz musicians from the Los Angeles area.

Jeremy Fox, D.M.A. ‘00, was selected to present a clinic at the 2012 International Jazz Education Network Conference in Kentucky, where he presented a clinic on Vocal Jazz Arranging to the members of the organization.

Fox was also selected to be the Guest Conductor for the 2012 California All-State Vocal Jazz Group, which represents a group of 16 of the finest high school jazz singers in the state.

The Fox Festival, named after him, took place in February 2012 at The School for Music Vocations at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa. The festival is one that Fox re-initiated in 2001 at the college. In the first year of the festival, seven high school groups participated. In 2011, near 40 high school and college groups attended from seven states and parts of Canada.

Fox majored in jazz composition at the Frost School of Music.

Mario Ortiz, B.M. ‘93, M.M. ‘95, has been nominated for a Latin GRAMMY in the category of “Best Salsa Album of the Year.” The album, “Mario Ortiz All Star Band Tributo 45 Aniversario,” distributed by Sony is a tribute to his late father, Mario Ortiz, a revered bandleader and arranger in Puerto Rico. The album features many of today’s salsa mega artists including Gilberto Santa Rosa, Cheo Feliciano, Andy Montanez, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Cruz, and Richie Ray.  The featured song on this album, “Chinita,” features Gilberto Santa Rosa and was ranked in the top 20 songs in Billboard for 23 weeks in Puerto Rico. In addition to his performance achievements, Mario Ortiz is a nationally certified music teacher for Miami-Dade County Public Schools and is a music teacher at Ben Sheppard Elementary and Ernest Graham Elementary in Hialeah, Florida.

Dave Clemmons, B.M. ‘88, was named Frost School of Music's 2007 Distinguished Alumnus. He is an award-winning music supervisor, producer, casting director, and vocal director. He began his career as a performer on Broadway with roles in Les Miserables(Valjean), and the original companies of The Civil War and The Scarlet Pimpernel. He was seen in the national tours of Les Miserables and Jekyll & Hyde, and he appeared onstage at Houston’s Tony-award winning Alley Theatre in As You Like It, and Jekyll & Hyde.

As founder/owner of Dave Clemmons Casting, he cast such Broadway shows as Ring of Fire, In My Life, The Boy from Oz, Wonderland, Dracula, The Civil War, Brooklyn, Cinderella, and Driving Miss Daisy. His off-Broadway shows include national and international tours of Cinderella, Evita, Millie, Cats, Fosse, Jekyll & Hyde, Chicago, Joseph, and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wizard of Oz, 101 Dalmatians, Saturday Night Fever, Movin’ Out, and the 2000 revival of Godspell. Clemmons served as music and vocal director/supervisor for the Broadway production of The Civil War, and the national tours of Jekyll & Hyde and The Civil War, as well as director/arranger at the Presidential Gala production of The Civil War at The Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Clemmons is producer/partner with StylesFour Productions, the Tony-Award winning theatrical production firm for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Orphans, Talk Radio, and Spring Awakening. He serves on faculty of The Performing Arts Project and the Broadway Theatre Project, advising faculty at The New York School of Film and Television, and is a visiting professor at Elon University.

Steve Bailey, B.M. ‘85, bassist, and educator, named Frost School of Music 2014 Distinguished Alumnus, is famous for his pioneering work with the six-string fretless bass. Bailey is a master of styles, having recorded and toured with such diverse artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Liebman, Paquito D’Rivera, Claudio Roditi, the Rippingtons, David Benoit, Jethro Tull, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Willie Nelson, Larry Carlton, Kitaro, Tab Benoit, Johnny Witherspoon, Mel Tormé, and many more. After earning music degrees from North Texas State University and the University of Miami Frost School of Music, Bailey moved to New York where he joined Paquito D’Rivera’s band, and later, Dizzy Gillespie’s band.

As a solo artist, Bailey has released three albums, Dichotomy, Evolution, and So Low….Solo. In 1993, he formed Bass Extremes with Victor Wooten, releasing Cookbook and Just Add Water. He performs and tours regularly in the group.

Bailey is currently chair of the Bass Department at Berklee College of Music, with previous appointments at the Bass Institute of Technology and Coastal Carolina University. He teaches as a clinician worldwide, serves on the advisory board, and as a columnist for Bass Player magazine, and along with Wooten hosts “Bass on the Beach,” a workshop for bassists of all abilities. His books include the Steve Bailey Bass Guitar Series and Bass Extremes. Bailey’s videos include Advanced Bassix and Bass Extremes: Live.

Ken Berry, B.M. ‘85 recently composed the theme and background music for the first season of Jerry Seinfeld’s Marriage Ref. He has written music for such television programs as Behind the Music, Survivor, Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire, Big Brother, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé, and Trading Spouses. He has won three BMI Awards for his work with Dave Vanacore Productions, and this spring he will be awarded two more for the theme for Undercover Boss and additional music for Out of the Wild. He majored in studio music and jazz at the Frost School of Music.

Ed Smart, B.M. ‘84, M.M. ‘87 is enjoying a diverse career as a composer and multi-instrumentalist. Composing credits for feature-length productions include Denzel Washington’s Oscar-nominated and Peabody award-winning documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, D.A. Pennebaker’s film Al Franken: God Spoke, and Shaquille O’Neal’s award-winning movie series, Sports Theater (Nickelodeon). He majored in studio music and jazz at the Frost School of Music.

Jon Secada, B.M. ’83, MM ’86, is a three-time GRAMMY winner and international superstar. With sales of more than 20 million albums worldwide, Secada is also a veteran of Broadway, television, and an accomplished producer.

Secada joined Gloria Estefan’s band as a background singer when he left UM, where he composed several ballads for Estefan, including the number one hit “Coming Out of the Dark.”

His debut album Jon Secada went triple platinum, and the Spanish-language version was the Number One Latin album of 1992, earning a GRAMMY for Best Latin Pop Album. Secada’s second album, Heart Soul and Voice, went platinum, and his third album, Amor, earned a GRAMMY for Best Latin Pop Performance. In 2006, Secada shared a GRAMMY for Songs From The Neighborhood: The Music of Mister Rogers. Secada has released numerous top thirty hits and albums since, and in 2010, released his first concert DVD, "Stage Rio" from his 2009 Brazil tour.  Secada has co-written and co-produced songs for Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Mandy Moore for their multi-platinum albums.

Secada has starred on Broadway as Danny Zuko in Grease, as the Emcee in Sam Mendes’ Cabaret, and as Joseph in Lloyd Webber’s & Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  He was a longtime celebrity judge on Latin American Idol.

Through "Jon Secada Charities," Secada supports charitable initiatives worldwide, including the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, and "Keeping Music in Schools."

He majored in jazz at the Frost School of Music and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1999.

Frost School of Music 2003 Distinguished Alumna Carmen Lundy, B.M. ‘80, is a jazz vocalist, composer, and actress celebrated throughout the world for her vocal artistry and jazz innovation. She attended the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami as an Opera major but soon discovered that jazz was her calling. After graduating with a degree in studio music and jazz, she moved to New York where she amassed a devoted following throughout North America, Asia, the UK, and Europe. Following her television debut in the starring role of the CBS TV Pilot Special Shangri-La Plaza, Lundy relocated to Los Angeles.

In 2014, Lundy released her 14th album Soul to Soul, featuring a host of legendary jazz artists. Her full discography includes performances and recordings with such musicians as brother and bassist Curtis Lundy, Ray Barretto, Kenny Barron, Bruce Hornsby, Mulgrew Miller, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Patrice Rushen, and the late Kenny Kirkland. Her 2005 release Jazz and the New Songbook-Live at The Madrid features some of the jazz world’s best-known musicians paying tribute to Lundy.

Lundy has a catalog of over 100 published songs, making her one of the few jazz vocalists in history to accomplish such a distinction. Artists who have recorded her works include Kenny Barron, Ernie Watts, and Straight Ahead.

Lundy is also an avid educator who is Resident Clinician and guest artist in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She has also worked with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and conducted master classes in Australia, Denmark, Russia, Japan, Switzerland, and throughout North America.

Pat Metheny reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for the next generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has redefined the genre by using new technology and evolving the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. He was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. Metheny has made compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.
 
At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. Over the years, Metheny has won countless polls as "Best Jazz Guitarist" and awards, including three gold records for Still Life (Talking), Letter from Home, and Secret Story. He has also won 20 GRAMMY Awards in 12 different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition. Since 1974, Metheny has averaged between 120-240 shows a year while he’s on tour. He has also taught music workshops all over the world.

"The Frost School is in a very special category of one. For decades now, musicians have flocked to Miami to participate in one of the most inspirational music programs in the world. This is an environment where individuality is not only encouraged and celebrated; it is built into the fabric of the school’s mission itself. There is a reason why the Frost alumni represent an impressively wide cross-section of excellent musicians across the entire spectrum of music. The ultimate testimonial is written in the names of the musicians who have come out of this amazing atmosphere, year after year after year."