The UCO Jazz Lab serves three primary functions. As an Education facility for the jazz studies program, as a community focused live music venue and as a place to learn, write and record music.
History
In early 2000, Gary Gabrel, president of Hideaway Pizza, considered it a great coincidence that the University of Central Oklahoma's Jazz Lab Department was looking for a home for its jazz studies program while he was looking for a place in Edmond to house a new Hideaway Pizza.
When developer Mark Neighbors donated land at South Litler and Fifth Street to the university through the UCO Foundation, UCO President Roger Webb's dream to build a jazz lab and an evening performance venue began to unfold.
Webb believed there was a definite market for a site that would serve as a teaching facility by day and as an entertainment spot by night.
After all, UCO's jazz studies program has grown, since its foundation in 1974 by Dr. Kent Kidwell, from one 20-piece jazz band to it current program which includes three 20-piece jazz bands and numerous small groups.
Partnering with Hideaway Pizza was an ideal fit for a jazz lab. Audiences could eat pizza and enjoy beverages while listening to jazz and other entertainment such as blues, pop, country, bluegrass, ethnic, classical, and even a taste of Broadway.
The Jazz Lab became an actuality thanks to a creative collaboration with the university, the UCO Foundation, the Neighbor's family, the Edmond Economic Authority, and the City of Edmond.
