A Variety of Jazz Music
The live performance I had the pleasure of attending was at Queens College LeFrak Concert Hall. It was Jazz Master Degree Graduation Recital concert in May. 05, 2016, at 3.00 pm. This was one of the few times I have ever attended to Jazz performance. I enjoyed every moment when I was sitting in the hall. There were not many people coming to the concert. The audiences were mostly like professors, friends or families of performers. The stage was set up with basic jazz instruments. There was a basic drum set including: kick drum, snare, floor tom, ride and crash symbols, and a high hat. The director of this concert is Mr. Edward Smaldone. There were a total of three musicians including Felix Lemerle. Felix is a Master student
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This one was written by the composer Jerry Livingston. The melody of this piece is a simple one, moving up the scale with repeated notes, and dropping rather dramatically and slowly to its phrase. The performer Felix Lemerle introduced about “It’s The Talk of the Town”, he said this is the song recorded in the year 1933. It also has the lyric which talked about the loving couple almost broke up after sending out their wedding invitations. Through the performance, I felt that the piece is relatively slower than the others. The music is telling us the story and people’s acting for their emotions. I could learn to enjoy Jazz music’s delicate part of melodies and rhythms from this piece of …show more content…
This music is called “Some Hope for Sam”, and composed by the performers Felix Lemerle. He wrote this piece for his best friend in Paris, France. He told us the story of Sam that he could not make his way to the American. Sam has an American dream, but because of visa problems, he lost his chance. Felix decided to write one piece for his friend which hope he can gain some strength from it. This Jazz piece is more like telling a stories by using free jazz style that created in 1950s. In the song, there was improvisation from the drums, guitar and bass. Throughout the whole music piece and not all the instruments were playing the same notes at the same time. My feeling about Free Jazz is that abandoned the traditional conservative rhythms, harmony and melody compositions, more pursuing of a broader self-performance space. I pretty enjoyed this piece of music, I was admire him that musicians compose their own music to express their feelings about people or things.
The fifth piece is composed by Charles E. Henderson. “Deep Night” is a song and jazz standard with a melody composed in 1929 . The tune of this melody is in a minor key. There were lots improvisations, Mr. Roland and Mr. Tirosh calling us to follow their rhythm and Felix played a solo with lots of intensity in a call and response manner later everyone joined and beat with them. The sudden switch from fast-paced jazz to a slow, emotionally stirring composition strengthened
This was my first Jazz event I had ever been to. I went to see the band The Chairman and the Board. This was a blues swing band. Having been to other concerts, I was expecting something similar as far as atmosphere and crowd. I was proved very wrong as this concert defied all my expectations and was in a whole different field as far as life entertainment goes. The first thing I noticed right off the bat was the audience. The age range of this audience was mainly 40-70. I definitely felt like the odd man out when I was there. It did get me thinking though, why was this audience so much older? I looked into the era of when most of those people were born, which was roughly around the years 1935-1980. I came to find out that in the 1940s bebop jazz had been created and swing music was very popular. Also at this time cool jazz emerged. It appears the 1940s were a wonderful time for jazz. In the 60s, Cuban jazz appeared. Every year there was something new and on the cutting edge in jazz. I think the reason no young people were there was because jazz is no longer a part of the modern-day music. It's not played on the top hits of the year radios. It's lack of exposure has made young people unaware of its glory. I don't see any advertisements for jazz music on the tv, or social media. I never hear about jazz while listening to the radio. It could be that teens want something to relate to in their music, that also has a catchy beat and modern lyrics. This event was hosted at the only live entertainment specific venue in Big Bear which is the cave. They have concerts there every weekend. This venue was absolutely perfect for this type of band because it was quaint and quiet with a respectful (yet very engaged) audience. I had no problem hearing what the performers were saying, Despite being far from the stage. The lighting at this venue looked like an old school jazz concert
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.
Music is magical: it soothes you when you are upset and cheers you up when you are down. To me, it is a communication with souls. I listen to different genres of music. When appreciating each form of music, with its unique rhythm and melody, I expect to differentiate each other by the feelings and emotions that it brings to me. However, I would definitely never call myself “a fan of jazz” until I witnessed Cécile McLorin Salvant’s performance last Friday at Mondavi Center. Through the interpretations and illustrations from Cécile’s performance, I realized that the cultural significance and individual identity are the building blocks of jazz music that create its unique musical features and support its development.
The event I attended was “An Evening of Jazz” concert held at the Fine Arts Hall on November 17 at 7:30 p.m. The performing groups were The Santa Fe Rhythm and Blues Review, The Santa Fe Jazz Combo, and Santa Fe Big Band. The event was to for me to understand, experience Jazz music and know the instruments used.
Throughout my lifetime I’ve been exposed to many different styles of music. One of the most emotionally connected music styles I’ve encountered would definitely be instrumental jazz. When I was younger I mostly listened to blues and smooth jazz, but more recently I’ve been attracted to faster tracks and harder beats like those you hear in the Swing era of the 1920’s. On Tuesday, October 27th I attended the performance of the jazz band: Sylvan Street, as a part of the University of Miami’s music festival (Festival Miami). The show started at eight o’clock at night cost ten dollars for students. Throughout the show, the band provided an incredible mixture of different styles of jazz while delivering an electrifying performance that captured the true essence of what jazz truly is.
On Monday, October 3, 2016 I was privileged to attend the fabulous performance by the Pittsburg State University Jazz Band at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts in Pittsburg Kansas. It was a beautiful evening filled with fantastic music. The concert featured many well-rehearsed songs, talented solos, and enjoyable evening for everyone who attended.
Jazz was used in many ways when it first came on to the scene; it was used as an instrument of revolution and also as a way to get over sickness whether it were physical or mental. The United States was not the only country to experience Jazz when it really came to life in the 1920’s. Jazz began to reach out to other European countries including Germany before the rise of Nazi power throughout the country. It was a genre that could be used as a revolt against certain powers and can be seen in Josef Skvorecký’s “Eine Kleine Jazzmusik”, a story written to depict the ways Jazz touched certain people. Another way in which Jazz was utilized occurred in the United States, depicted in Haruki Murakimi’s “Nausea 1979”, as a way to heal sickness and loneliness. Both stories are written in a different way, one as an actual story and one as an interview. They show the different uses of Jazz, but also how it influences people the same way. One influencing a revolution and the other influencing the health of a man.
Overall, I enjoyed the concert and I think the musicians did a nice job performing those music pieces. It was my first time participating in a jazz concert, and I had a better understanding about jazz music after hearing their performance. Jazz is a music genre that was originated from the African American communities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Besides, I feel really honored to be able to enjoy the performance of the famous bassist Rufus Reid. He is one of the most passionate musicians I have ever seen and it was a pleasure to listen to his work from “Quiet Pride: The Elizabeth Catlett Project”.
The concert I attended was the Jazz Showcase in Rudder Theatre on Monday June21, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.
The two concerts that I chose to go see were Stanislaus State Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensembles & Combos Concert. These two concerts are both very similar yet different in their own ways. Each piece also has many attributes to contribute and it was fun being able to watch two very different genres.
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
I enjoy and listen to variety of music from classical music to rap music. I have attended many concerts, mostly symphony bands concerts. However, interestingly, through whole my life, I have never experienced jazz music and I have never been to jazz concert. Therefore, it was hard for me to decide which jazz concerts would give me most pleasure and exciting experience. I researched for jazz concerts listing and I have decided to go to the Ron Eschete Trio Concerts because it was held closed to my house and was free.
The fifth song was a ballad called “Last Night When We Were Young.” This song had a relaxing and romantic sound. It had a steady and constant tempo. The bassist also used the pizzicato technique during his solo in this piece.
The first piece on the program was Polonaise from Eugene Onegin (1878). This piece is from the Romantic period composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikavosky (1840-1893). Very short piece probably around six minutes. The variations and the interesting theme made this piece the most interesting among the other compositions despite the length of this piece, but it was amusing. The piece started with trumpets playing short high notes as an introductory, with the accompaniment of violins playing quick short notes. It sounds like if it was played in a major key, very cheerful and very fast like if the tempo is Vivace. Moreover, trumpets throughout the piece reinforce the harmony. Throughout the piece varies styles were used such as legato (smooth connected style).The texture of this piece is homophonic ( one line of real interest with accompaniment). The rhythm of the piece is really catchy, pretty much predictable; most of the piece variations are centered on the main theme, but it is very pleasing to the ears (consonant).
“You can’t touch music—it exists only at the moment it is being apprehended—and yet it can profoundly alter how we view the world and our place in it” (“Preface” 7).1 Music is a form of art enjoyed by millions of people each day. It is an art that has continued through decades and can be seen in many different ways. That is why Ellison chooses to illustrate his novel with jazz. Jazz music in Invisible Man gives feelings that Ellison could never explain in words. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the narrator’s search for his identity can be compared to the structure of a jazz composition.