Brian Horton (’17 D.M.A.), Kinston. He was an inspiring musician, composer and educator. Teaching jazz arranging and saxophone, he was an assistant professor in UNT’s Department of Music, director of Jazz Studies program and Jazz Ensemble at North Carolina Central University. He recently led NCCU’s ensemble in competition at the 2022 Jack Rudin Jazz Championship, featuring the country’s best-regarded university jazz programs, where they came in the top three places. He also toured with the Brian Horton Trio and Quartet throughout the U.S. as a leader, sideman and arranger. He worked professionally for 20 years, from touring with numerous jazz greats to composing for documentaries and projects for Spike Lee. Brian dedicated a special thanks to the UNT Jazz Studies Department, College of Music faculty, and the student body for their support and encouragement in his musical endeavor, Black Magic, a musical response to the research found in his dissertation study – “Tone Parallels in Music for Film: The Compositional Works of Terence Blanchard in the Diegetic Universe” (2017).