I Attended The `` Uic Jazz Ensemble ' At 7

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On February 17th, I attended the “UIC Jazz Ensemble” at 7 in the evening. The concert was located at the Illinois room in Student Center East. The concert director was Mr. Andy Baker, and he is one of the music professors at UIC. Besides, he is a lead trombonist of the Chicago Jaz Ensemble, co-leader of the sextet BakerzMillion. He is also a first-call theatre and studio musician. The lights in the room were pretty dim, and the room was filled with audiences. I noticed that there were a total of nineteen musicians performing that evening, and a lady jazz singer accompanied the musicians throughout the concert. There were sixteen members playing the wind instruments, including the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, flute, and French horn. Some of them were standing, and some were sitting. Besides wind instrument, the concert also included a guitar, drum and piano into the performance. They were played by Edwin Garcia, Aaron Gorden, James Wenzel and Will Gingrich respectively. After a short introduction, Andy Baker began the concert by playing the song “Sedentary Motion” composed by Tom Garling. The style of the song was set in an easy modern Samba feel, the music lines were smooth and the chord voicings were merged to produce a gentle, yet complex conversation between sections of the jazz ensemble. As the chords were free and unrestrained, the solo performance of the tenor saxophone and trumpet were able to stand out and present their ideas. The drummer accompanied them throughout the whole song, which makes the song sound more colorful. The tempo of “Sedentary Motion” was set in an easy medium tempo, and the whole song lasted for over nine minutes. Moving on to the second song, it is called “Take the A train” composed by Billy Strayho... ... middle of paper ... ... 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. 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”.

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