DEREKH FROUDE/Arizona Daily Wildcat Theater arts junior Megan Mioduski and business senior Dana Morris discuss the logistics of the new student-run UA jazz label, Park Avenue Records. The label will hold open auditions for songs on its upcoming album next month.

After decades of dreaming, UA students are ready to produce music that promises to be all that jazz with the creation of its very own student-run recording label, Park Avenue Records.

Music seniors Dana Morris and Matt Davis, fine arts studies sophomore Suzanne Richards, fine arts management senior Kurt Bradley, and theater arts junior Megan Mioduski make up the all-student production team.

The jazz label is also supported by an array of music industry professionals. Park Avenue Records already has an agent, along with advising from the president and executive vice president of Warner World Music.

Closer to home, University of Arizona Audio Specialist Lee Furr and music professors Jeff Haskell and James O'Brien are a few members of the supervising crew.

Whispers of establishing some sort of music label at UA have inspired rumors for years. It was not until last fall that the ball got rocking and rolling.

Morris is the group's president and recalls the label's formative stages.

"We chose to go jazz for a variety of reasons, including the available artists in the students and alumni, as well as a strong jazz community in Tucson," she stated in an e-mail interview. "(Jazz is) also one of the few markets where it's still possible to be successful as a smaller label. Last semester, a group of students got together and worked on writing a business plan and starting the motions to get the record label formally established."

Other schools, such as the University of Miami and the Berkeley College of Music, have recording labels, but Mioduski, who is the label's vice president of marketing, stated in an e-mail interview that the difference between these schools' companies and the UA's is that "ours is completely run by students." Mioduski is currently collaborating with a graphic designer to create the label's logo.

Furr has worked in the recording industry for most of his adult life and revels in finally being able to harmonize the UA label rumors into action.

"This has been one of my goals for many years. There have been talks of starting a music label at the U of A since the '60s," he said. "With this, students gain the experience without the repercussions of the real world. They handle the marketing, research and production. They get to make all the decisions."

Morris said the UA is the perfect place for such an endeavor.

"We have a great recording studio that just got a new 24-track digital console, there's the business savvy to run the label, artistic excellence, and the facilities to do it."

Haskell believes the students have the label so well organized that it only has a short time before it will be a full-fledged recording outfit.

"They are way ahead of schedule. They have a direction and a solid set of plans just like a significant business operation," Haskell said. "They are doing all the right stuff. This is what academia should be: preparation for the real world."

Members of the label have high aspirations for its future.

"Hopefully we will be able to collaborate with multiple colleges and provide professional opportunities to a variety of students," Mioduski said.

The inception of the label last year included the firmly planted understanding that production would be "for the students, by the students."

Park Avenue Records is readying for fall production of this year with two acts per semester. Auditions for spots on the upcoming album will be in the Music building April 20 and 21. For more information, send an e-mail to parkaverecords@arizona.edu.