Carlos Lando Colorado Music Educator Award Honors a New Generation of Jazz Musicians

Congratulations, Dave Hammond from the Denver School of the Arts, the first recipient of the Carlos Lando Colorado Music Educators Award!

This year, Rocky Mountain Public Media established the “Carlos Lando Colorado Music Educator Award” to be presented annually at KUVO’s signature event, Live at the Vineyards. This award is created in recognition of Carlos’ personal passion and dedication to fostering a lifelong love of jazz music in others.
Honoring Colorado’s outstanding music educators, this award is dedicated to advocates for the musicians of tomorrow who are carrying the legacies of jazz greats into new generations.

Dave Hammond, our first Carlos Lando Music Educator Award recipient, is a founding music instructor with the Denver School of Arts. Thank you to Williams Dental Implant & Oral Surgery for underwriting a special financial gift to Dave and the Denver School of the Arts in recognition of this award.

As Director of Bands at the school for more than 25 years, he led bands to win 15 Downbeat Magazine Student Awards and perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., among other major venues across the US.

Denver School of the Arts Jazz Workshop Orchestra is one of the nation’s top high school big bands, selected to perform at the prestigious Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Other award-winning performances include the Swing Central Jazz Festival, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and Wynton Marsalis’ Essentially Ellington High School Competition and Festival. Under Dave’s direction, the Denver School of Arts Wind Ensemble also received rave reviews during their appearance at the 2018 National Concert Band Festival.

As an educator and mentor to hundreds of Colorado students, Dave inspires students to listen and learn from each other and helps them develop skills to compose their own original music.

Outside of school, Dave is an Essentially Ellington jazz clinician as well as an accomplished jazz composer and drummer. His 2018 release “Four Canals” is available on iTunes, Spotify, and other music platforms.

Pictures: this page-Dave Hammond, homepage-Denver School of the Arts Workshop Orchestra (April 5, 2022, live at KUVO)

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