Concert Report
I attended the Jazz Faculty Recital on October 7 2015. It was located in Marlboro Hall Room 1076. The performers were Bobby Muncy, Shaun Jurek, Anthony Pirog, and Ian Mcolm. This Recital gave me a new understanding of jazz and the wide range of styles it possess.
The instruments utilized were the bass, played by Shaun Jurek, the saxophone, played by Bobby Muncy, a drum set, played by Ian Mcolm, a guitar, played by Anthony Pirog, and briefly a piano. There were 2 pieces and 1 improvisation performed at the recital. The first piece was “Billie’s Bounce” composed by Charlie Parker. The next piece was “A Punchup at a Wedding” written by P.Selway, E. O’brien, J. Greenwood, T. Yorkie, and Colin C. Greenwood, otherwise known as radiohead.
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The melodies were changed as each instrument had its own solo, but they were easy to remember in “A Punchup at a Wedding” and “Billie’s Bounce.” In “Billie’s Bounce,” the melody was dominantly kept by the saxophone and sounded legato. The melody in the improvisation was erratic and hard to remember. Moving onto elements of harmony, the improvisation was the only work that displayed dissonance, the other two exhibited consonance. The only consistent characteristic of the 3 works was their homophonic …show more content…
Additionally, being unfamiliar with the other performers and having this recital be the first time they played together, they pulled off the improvisations and performance very well, once again showcasing their artistic mastery. While the musicians were performing, they were very into the music and fully concentrated on playing. Their faces alone showed that their minds were not on their surroundings or appearance, but rather on the music being played and heard. Consequently, their faces also made it less professional because it made me want to laugh at them more than pay attention to the music. I feel that there was strong communication between the performers and the audience because the works made me feel like I was in different settings. “Billie’s Bounce” made me feel like i was in an old bar or a fancy restaurant, “A Punchup at a Wedding” made me feel like it was late at night and I was walking the streets, and the free improvisation made me feel like I was inside of a mental patient’s head. There was a strong balance between the instruments because they each had their time to shine and when played together they would base their playing off the others and it felt like a team
The concert is performed by the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The video of this concert is 90 minutes in length. The concert was an ensemble of various Dave Brubeck arrangements utilizing various jazz techniques and styles with mainly the following instruments: bass, piano, trumpet, trombone, tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax, flute, piccolo, baritone sax, drum, and tambourine. The performance included these 15 pieces: “Unsquare Dance”, “Three to Get Ready”, “The Duke”, “Cassandra”, “Strange Meadowlark”, “Who Will Take Care of Me?”, “It’s a Raggy Waltz”, “Tokyo Traffic”, “Take Five”, “Lost Waltz”, “Upstage Rhumba”, “In Your Own Sweet Way”, “Fast Life”, “Bluette”, and “Blue Rondo a la Turk”. The performance highlights the versatile, influential and extraordinary life’s work of Dave Brubeck.
Vladimir Bogdanov. All Music Guide to Jazz. Forth edition. Ann Arbor, MI: All Media Group, 2002
Every performance was presented with charm. The flashing, changing colors seem to go along with the performances. The director was humorous. The performers outfits were on point too. I liked the color coding of the vocalists, Jeremy, Jordan, and Rowan. Also, Julie wore a pretty suede dress and had a great voice. It was nice to see her come out for the 2nd time to sing. When Spencer kept playing his saxophone in some of the performances, it was just amazing. Some of my favorite performances were Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, Ain’t too Proud to Beg, In a Sentimental Mood, and more. It really made me feel like I was in New Orleans all over again. I absolutely love Otis Redding and The Temptations music, so I wasn’t new to these songs they played. I was sitting in the back (R-125) where I felt comfortable to bob my head to the music. If I ever come back to see another concert, I will make sure to get a seat in the back again. I adore Jordan that did sung the Temptations song. I thought it was exciting to see his enthusiasm while on stage keeping us engaged, but everyone did great in their own way. The song by Duke Ellington made me feel melancholy, the piece was soft. I just couldn’t believe how well everyone contributed and gave an outstanding
trumpets were just painting a great piece. When Billie started singing you could tell that she was
The band played together in such harmony and joy, and they exchanged looks as if they're talking to each other and understood by looks. As it turns out the guest go the nigh George Gazone was the professor who taught the band members music. Garzone Played the Saxophone like no other, he’s solos were magical it was fascinating watching him and the admiration his student have for him. The music sounded beautiful, yet seems the band are not well prepared for the evening. There was a lot of improvisation and as if every band member wanted to show off his skills which was really good. Improvisation is an element of jazz I was looking for, also, there were a lot of call and response between the band members different ones at each piece they played.
The third song that the jazz ensemble performed was, “My One and Only Love,” performed by Guy Wood. throughout this piece, there seemed to be a rhythmic feel that was often relaxed and not much that was upbeat. The form of this song seemed to be an AABA form where 16 notes were played on a beat every eighth note. This piece of art seemed to be influenced by the style of blues. There was a lot of solo improvisation throughout this song and tended to be less collective improvisation. Overall, this piece of jazz lasted for about three solid minutes before going to the last piece of art performed for the
This piece was filled with improvisation and you could feel the creativity following from the musicians. The combo didn’t have a conductor like the big band and was significantly smaller. Although, the combo was smaller and less formal it wasn’t any less of a performance. The piece started out with a phenomenal alto sax solo by Kevin Clements of Lamar, Missouri. Kevin is a talented musician, with his dark, rich sounding solo, he hit it out of the park. Ivan Vazquez of Garden City, Kansas performed another great solo on the trombone. Maddy Beasley, Kearney, Missouri followed Ivan with a tenor saxophone
The first song played was from a genre that I had previously taken a test on, Sonata. The musicians played the song by the book. There were three movements and polyphonic texture. It was even fast and jerky. Nonetheless, this is the part where my rollercoaster was going down. In my opinion it was boring. Although very well played, the song itself did not interest me. I did not like the roadrunner, coyote essence of the song. The piano accompaniment would sometimes play the melody and let the clarinet follow and then they would switch. This to me seemed force instead of like the Sonatas that I listened to in class. However, apart from the musical aspect of the first piece there was a certain intensity expressed by the performers. I had never seen a
Many jazz artists as we know it are quite talented. Their talents are unique in that they can translate human emotion through singing or playing their instruments. Many have the ability to reach and touch people’s souls through their amazing gifts. Although this art of turning notes and lyrics into emotional imagery may somewhat come natural, the audience must wonder where their influence comes from. For Billie Holiday, her career was highly influenced by personal experience, the effects of the Great Depression, and the racial challenges of African Americans during her time.
... began the piece, and the beat of the drum was frequent. After the introduction, the rest of the musicians joined. The pianist also had a solo part with the companion of the drum. The pace of the song was moderately fast, and the song ended with a climax.
Of the five minutes, I believe that the most interesting segments are the first solo and the last minute or so; I will be analyzing these particular portions in depth. From the very start, this song is hot and fast. To open, the entire band plays a fast phrase that follows the 12 bar blues scale and this phrase remains central throughout the entirety of the song. The bass and piano hold this phrase while the horns transition into a separate rhythm to compliment it. These two phrases are repeated until the beginning of the first saxophone solo at :56. During this solo the bass transitions to a shuffle line while the piano compliments. The other horns join in with riffs after the first two choruses of the solo. The solo continues for another two choruses with the whole band playing before it is rounded off. The final minute of the song begins with a repeat of the third, fourth, and fifth choruses. In the final 20 seconds, things begin to get very interesting. The horns hold the last note of the chorus as the rhythms comes to a sharp halt. The horns engage in a brief agglomeration of notes that exhibits a strong use of polyphony and could be described as somewhat hectic. The drummer begins to shine with a solo of his own which he continues for the final seconds of the song, before resolving the entire song with a final
...ked throughout the concert. The pacing of the selections seemed appropriate. No piece sounded like the one before it. There was a great variety of songs played. There were songs played that were written by famous jazz composers and songs played that were written by some of the performers themselves. This added to the excitement of the show.
The majority of the pieces featured a rather slow steady beat, provided by the drum and the piano, while the other instruments (mainly the brass section) were used to play the main motif along with some minor ornamentations. The third song they played, one of my favorites, was simply a steady 4/4 tempo kept by the drum, with some minor variations. The saxophone and trumpets took turns drifting in and out to carry the melody. The saxophone player delivered an entertained solo which consisted of very light and amusing trills, this created a very soothing and relaxing
The first piece was called Oblique/musique composed by Patrick Swanson. This piece instantly stood out among the others because of the instruments involved. The piece was performed by two people: one playing a vibraphone and the other playing a large drum/cymbal/gong. However, the piece also contained prerecorded sounds of static, bass, and an incoherent voice. In this piece the melody was repeated many times. It was similar to the works of John Adams because of its repetitions, background recording, and minimalistic sounds.
This concert was very nice and enjoyable. The performance overall was very good and easy to listen to. All the pieces they played except for the second one I really did like. I had never been to a chamber music concert before this one, but I really enjoyed the setting and how close you could be to the musicians. The concert overall was very good and I would go back to another one like it