UK Musicians, WUKY Take Home Multiple Lexington Music Awards

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 16, 2017) — Two University of Kentucky School of Music faculty, the Wildcat Marching Band and WUKY took home awards at the third annual Lexington Music Awards held Jan. 29, at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center.

Raleigh Dailey, associate professor of UK Jazz Studies, took home the award for Best Keyboardist for the second year in a row. Dailey, who earned his doctoral degree from UK, is an internationally recognized jazz pianist, composer, scholar and educator. Under his direction, UK's Lab Band and Jazz Combos have performed nationally at various jazz festivals, including the International Jazz Education Network Conference. He is the pianist and composer for the Osland/Dailey Jazztet, which recently released a new CD, "Catch This," and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam, Holland.

Miles Osland, director of Jazz Studies and professor of saxophone at UK, took home two awards for Best Wind/Brass and Best Jazz/Latin/Big Band/World Act for the second time since the awards' inception. Osland has appeared throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia as a guest conductor, performer and clinician for Selmer Saxophones and Bay Woodwind mouthpieces. His compositions and arrangements, available through Walrus Music, have been recognized and supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, and by numerous other arts foundations. At the UK School of Music, Osland conducts the UK Jazz Ensemble and UK Mega-Sax. He also performs with the Osland/Dailey Jazztet, DiMartino-Osland Jazz Orchestra (DOJO) and the Bluegrass Area Jazz Ambassadors (BAJA).

The Wildcat Marching Band received the Critic's Choice Award. Directed by Scott-Lee Atchison, Wildcat Marching Band provides a pep band for every away game in the SEC and travels with the full band to one away game each year. In addition, the Wildcat Marching Band has participated in numerous post-season bowl games, BOA Regional Championships, a Presidential Inauguration, a World Series, and the 2008 Ryder Cup. The Wildcat Marching Band is one of several UK School of Music ensembles at the UK College of Fine Arts.

John Scheib, director of UK School of Music, was happy to see Dailey, Osland and Wildcat Marching Band receive recognition from the Lexington Music Awards. “It is always wonderful to see our talented faculty and students being recognized for the exceptional work they do day in and day out — and perhaps even more so when acknowledged by our local Lexington music community.”

WUKY-FM, a community-supported public radio station at UK, won the Community Service Award for its numerous community service efforts, including Phoenix Friday Concerts and a musical instrument drive on behalf of Lexington's Central Music Academy. WUKY is an affiliate of NPR.

"It is a tremendous honor for 91.3 WUKY to receive the Lexington Music Award for Community Service," WUKY manager Tom Godell said. "We are proud to serve Lexington and Central Kentucky."

One of the night's special guests and award winners, Nick Lawrence, took home a lifetime achievement award for his 24 years as a host on WUKY's "Curtains @ 8" broadcast. Like WUKY, Lawrence applied his many talents to helping the community, especially in the arts, with his arts broadcasts and also as a performer with the Lexington Singers. Lawrence was recognized with four other lifetime honorees: Homer Ledford, John Michael Montgomery, Gail Wynters and Dwight Yoakam.

The full list of winners at the Lexington Music Awards can be found here.

The idea for the Lexington Music Awards came about from Lexington musician and music teacher, David McLean. McLean intended for the event to be a small gathering, but soon realized that there was much more interest in the event than he originally predicted. In order to determine the winners of each category, McLean has the public make nominations online. He then narrows down the votes to the top four candidates per category and had individual nominees vote on each category to determine the winners.