Jazz Concert Critique

On March 30th, 2017 I attended a well-performed jazz concert at Prince George’s Community College. The concert was performed by a group called The Reginald Cyntje Group. The Reginald Cyntje Group was made up of Brian Settles, Herman Burney, Lenny Robinson, Hope Udobi, and Reginald Cyntje. The group performed seven songs including: “The Rise of the Protester,” “Ballad for the Masses,” “Chant of the Revolt,” “Descension and Ascension,” “No Justice No Peace,” “The Piece of Resistance,” and “Blues People vs the Deplorables.” While I enjoyed all of the songs my favorite was the “Dance of the Crooked Heads,” which will be the topic of my report.

I attended a jazz concert on April 7, 2016. The jazz concert was performed by the Page brothers, Mike Willis, and Justin Butler. Justin Butler accompanied the other instrumentalists in one song. The instruments used during the jazz concert was a guitar, bass, drums, and shakers. The performance was located in the theater at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute. The jazz concert was informal. The venue was favorable for the jazz concert. The instrumentalist played on a stage while the audience sat in the seats. The theater was small so the jazz music was easy to hear. However, there was a lot of people attending the concert so the theater was crowded. The audience was able to see the performers because of how the theater seats are set up. Also, the room was completely dark except for the stage so I was able to focus primarily on the performers. Overall, I liked the jazz concert performed by the Page Brothers.

     The sixth piece was called This The Moment sing Me a Song by Craig McGill. This piece had two singers and a piano accompaniment. The song is about a glorious moment when two people meet or possible fall in love. Regardless, it is a very important moment in the lives of the couple, represented by the male and female singers. The song talks about

One musically difference that really struck me in the jazz jam session was the change by Andy Woodson from the bass to the electric bass. It gave all the songs somewhat an extraordinary tune, which to me sounded as it were, a lighter and extremely calm rock and electric feel. The electric guitar changed his solos. With the standard bass his performances have a profound and substantial feel as a result of the notes the bass creates yet with electric bass the notes had a lighter, electric feel. It seemed like he could play a more extensive assortment of notes on the electric guitar, perhaps the notes were in a way fluffier than on a normal

This review is about the Studio Big Band and their performance in the Casa Loma Room at the University of Redlands on Thursday, February 23rd at eight in the evening, under the direction of Prof. David Scott. The concert was made up of the following tunes: “High Maintenance” by Gordon Goodwin, “Four” by Miles Davis (arr. Dave Bardhun), “Nica’s Dream” by Horace Silver (arr. Frank Mantooth), “Witchcraft” by Cy Coleman (arr. Sammy Nestico), “Footprints” by Wayne Shorter (arr. Mat Harris), “Category 4” by Jeff Jarvis, and “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane (arr. Mark Taylor). The music on this program was very relevant for the eras we are covering or will be covering soon in the class, and to this end, the piece I will be focusing on

Jazz Critique Video #1 The YouTube channel Jazz at Lincoln Center posted a video of an Untamed Elegance concert. According to their description of the video, it was composed by Victor Goines and performed October 28, 2016 at the Rose Theater. The video is approximately fifty three minutes long and includes key jazz instruments that were played by extremely talented musicians.

After peaking though my program to better understand what to expect throughout the concert, I realized there were going to be two performances with 2 different ensembles as well as directors. Promptly at 7:30 pm, the band of Jazz Ensemble II came out, gathered their places on stage, and began to play “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” by Mercer Ellington. I immediately recognized the stereotypical jazz setup such as the primary melodic instruments: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, as well as the piano, bass and

The genre of jazz is one of rich history and also one that is eternally changing. With its roots in African culture and its evolution mainly in the United States, it is quite obvious that the musicians involved in the growth of this music experienced great racial barriers. From its origins in the plantations of the South during times of slavery to its current state as a popular form of music, jazz has been an important tool in the battle against black prejudice. Due to its exposure to white audiences and musicians throughout its history, its use as a weapon against Jim Crow, and its relation to the black power movement of the 1960s, jazz has helped combat racism against blacks in the United States.

The Jazz Ensemble I & Studio Orchestra, on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 showcased the talent of young musicians’ weather it was playing, singing or arraigning music. The first part of the concert was dedicated to the jazz ensemble, which presented its ability in both big and small band songs with different instrumentation. The studio orchestra was then introduced for the second half, with the jazz ensemble remaining on stage as they joined them for certain pieces.

I attended the Brent Wallarab’s Jazz Ensemble’s performance on March 9th located at the Musical Arts Center at Indiana University Bloomington. It started at 8pm and ended around 9:10pm. Since it is a jazz ensemble, there are lots of instruments involve into the music. As always, piano, bass, guitar and drums serve for the rhythm section, but for some particular songs, vibraphone also serves as the rhythm keeper too. For the woodwind part, there are two alto saxophones, two tenor saxophones, one baritone saxophone and one flute. For the brass part, there are five trumpets and four trombones (one of the trombones is a bass trombone). The atmosphere and the environment were all great because there was a jazz combo’s performance right before the

The UIC Vocal Jazz Ensemble started the performance first. The ensemble consisted of thirteen members, and they opened the performance with a Christmas carol. There were three males and four female soloists who were scat singing. The ending of the song was very cool when the male soloist said, “Better watch out now”. The song was very interesting and created a delightful atmosphere to start the performance along with the Christmas spirit. The second song that the ensemble performed was called “In the Mellow Tone” by Duke Ellington. They also took turn to sing solo and scat singing. The male singers also sung a little part without instrumental towards the end of the song. The next performance was a duet of the “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar and H. E. R.. The R&B song sounded very

This weekend I attended a wonderful All Stars show at the Jazz Showcase held by Pianist Willie Pickens on Friday, July , 08, 2016, at 8:00 pm . As I mentioned in my first concert review the Jazz Showcase is located at the Dearborn Station in Chicago, IL . This time I went to this jazz performance with my two older sisters. Although I already got to walk around the place the first time I visited, it was my sisters first time there and they want to walk around and look at the memorabilia on the walls . The Jazz Showcase consist of two main levels known as the “Upstairs level” and “ Downstairs level” . The first time I came to the Jazz showcase I was seated in the “Downstairs

On Sunday night February 26, I went to the music center located at New Mexico State university to the Atkinson recital hall to watch the North American Saxophone Alliance region conference concert. The concert only consisted of saxophones and a few accompaniments first to the stage was Jessica Maxfield who played alto saxophone accompanied by Hannah Crevistion on the piano. The duo played accouple of movements from “Garden of Follies” composed by the Andrew Norman. The first movement they played was “Spandrels”, the tempo on this piece as soon as they start was a very fast tempo and lot of accents marks. She goes on to play to play four more movements called “Crossed Paths, Blue Mountains thoughts, Fourth Act and Regarding Crystals”. All the move moments she had played gave a more serious and suspenseful tone. The piano would play notes that were very sharp dissonance notes throughout all the movements and the saxophone would bring it more to a tonic sound but it’s still very textural music, and lots of sharps played.

On May 4th, I attended a jazz band concert at Consumes River College in the recital hall. The performances consisted of ten jazz songs and one funky song.

For this extra credit concert review, I attended Wheaton’s Christmas Festival. I was going anyway and thought I would write a review for it to get some kind of credit. There was a lot performed during this concert and it is not possible to discuss everything in detail so I will discuss the overall atmosphere and some of the specific performances that I particularly enjoyed. The concert started with Claire Holly singing Once in a Royal David’s City composed by Henry J. Gauntlett in 1849 (Hawn and Hanna). It was a solo performance and it was peaceful. The Symphonic Band then played and this was followed by everyone, including the audience, singing Come thou Long Expected Jesus composed by Charles Wesley in 1744 (Carrol). Next, which I will discuss in more detail, Wolcum Yole composed by Benjamin Britten in 1942 (Wolcum Yole!). This was interesting to listen to because we have spoken about Benjamin Britten in class. This piece was mainly monophonic and contained a lot of agitated style. It was not smooth; it was all over the place. This is a much more modern song as one can tell. It strays away from the much more conservative-style pieces that Giovanni Artusi was an advocate for in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Several more songs were played and sung by the Concert Choir, Women’s Chorale and the Percussion Ensemble which were followed by my favorite piece in the concert, Fum Fum Fum which was thought to be composed in the sixteen or seventeenth centuries but was not