In the past 30 years, jazz majors in university of northern colorado have won more than 100 awards set by the American core publication Down Beat, including best jazz band, best instrumental solo, best jazz composer/arranger, best jazz singer and so on.

The Northern Colorado Jazz Lab I of the University of University of northern colorado has also won high praise in the field of international jazz music, and was once rated as the "Best Jazz Band in America" by Downbeat (2005-2006), a core American music publication. At present, he is the head of the department, the famous jazz pianist/composer Dana Landry, and the winner of the Grammy nomination award for best jazz composer/pianist.

In addition, university of northern colorado is one of the few public universities in the United States to apply for a doctorate in jazz music.