Jazz Music Concert Review

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.

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

I attended the Baylor University Concert Jazz Ensemble directed by Alex Parker on Tuesday, November 10th. This ensemble consisted of saxes, trombones, trumpets, drums, a piano, and bass. The concert showcased many individual talents by including solo’s or duet’s in every song. The program consisted of seven songs with no intermission. The pieces I selected were “Big Dipper” by Thad Jones and “Undecided” by Frank Mantooth.

The audience was wrapped in the complexity and intensity that radiated in this piece. This was due to the disjunct melody, as the piece sounded generally uneven, with recurring wide leaps as the piece had a wide range. It was mesmerizing, watching the technique and fast pace hand movements. Furthermore, the song had a general homophonic texture as there was a clear dominant melody being played, with a few different chords supporting the melody. Despite there being a few tempo changes as the song alternated in pace, the piece sustained a duple meter, emphasizing on the jazz rhythm. The uniqueness of the piece was especially brought out through the frequent dissonance harmony, which made the piece more interesting to listen to. The piece had an overall free rhythmic feel, allowing the combination of distinctive rhythms and dynamics into a unique melody. The timbre of the piano matched the style of music as it was successful in giving the jazzy tone to the piece. Nevertheless, I think that the use of a full orchestra is more successful in delivering the full jazz melody as each instruments timbre provides an interesting influence on the

The first part of the jazz concert had three sections. The first section began subito (abruptly) with everyone playing in sync and the guitarist as the main player. He played with a vivacious tempo,

The four songs in their set were either composed or arranged by a member of the group. Due to experience, each member was comfortable on stage and highly skilled; therefore, every solo was near perfection. This combo was unique because it had a trombone player, Henry Panion IV. Throughout this entire concert, every performance had one thing in common. Every player seemed to be having fun and loved to play jazz. This was my first opportunity to go to a jazz concert, and it allowed me to hear a completely new style of music. It opened my eyes to a great genre of American

The group playing at the club was the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, which was directed by Kenny Koblitz and Paul Ferguson. The ensemble consisted of trombones, trumpets, a alto saxophone, a bass, a baritone saxophone, bongos, a bass trombone, a tenor sax, a french horn, a piano, drums, a cello, and maracas. The concert was presenting music of Afro-Cuban Explosion. Afro-Cuban Explosion is the earliest form of Latin Jazz, combining the elements of African-american culture with those of Cuban culture (dictionary.com). The spirit of the music -- a true fusion between North, South, and Central America -- and an emphasis on infectious rhythms are the keys (Afro-Cuban Jazz Music Artists). The beginning of Afro-Cuban jazz can be linked back to trumpeter-arranger, Mario Bauza. Bauza introduced trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie, to the masterful Cuban percussionist, Chano Pozo, to create innovative music (Afro-Cuban Jazz Music Artists). Because of these people, Afro-Cuban jazz caught on as one of the most popular jazz

This song had a nice ballad sound to it. Casey Blackwelder played a wonderfully smooth trumpet solo. There were a few moments where the background music seemed to overpower the solo, but that did not affect the quality of the solo. The next solo was Bryce Harris on the saxophone. The solo was simple, but yet complemented the song extremely well. This song was played second and really caught and kept my

I attended a Senior Recital performed by Travis Hogue-Smith. This concert took place at Barry University’s chapel on March 28, 2017 at 7:30 PM. The instruments used in this concert are a clarinet, played by Travis Hogue-Smith, and a piano, play Dr. Beverly Coulter. Music from both Romantic and Classical genres were played in this concert.

On November 14th, the Lawrence University Jazz Workshop, under the direction of José Encarnación, played a concert of five tunes in Harper Hall. This ensemble consisted of a full rhythm section, six saxophones, a trombone and a cello making up the trombone section, and four trumpets. The purpose of this concert was to demonstrate what the Jazz Workshop had been working on throughout fall term as well as function as a final exam. Over the course of about 40 minutes, they played five pieces of different styles that featured and challenged different parts of the ensemble.

The concert night began with almost 20 minutes of performances by The Jazz Band that performed five songs: “Choo Choo Ch” (Horton et al., 1946),“Dreamsville” (Mancini, 1960), “Work Song” (Adderley,

The jazz music ensemble played a total of 8 pieces from several different composers. One piece that stuck out to me in particular was the song, “Jazz Crimes” composed by Joshua Redman but performed by Steve Houghton. What attracted me to this song was the prestissimo tempo. It was not hard to pick up on to the fast beat, do to the fact that the artists were tapping their feet at a very high rate. I noticed that there were many solos throughout the entire piece, leading me to believe that the song could be classified as a sonata. “Jazz Crimes” has a concert overture because, it does not precede a larger piece of music.

Mark Wade is a proficient double bassist and composer who has been playing in NYC for two decades, showing off his fluid, athletic sound. The follow-up to his widely recognized debut album, Event Horizon, is entitled Moving Day and like its previous, features a classic trio with Tim Harrison and Scott Neumann on piano and drums, respectively. Together, they achieve an impressive triangular tightness that can be heard without delay on the first track, the 6/4 post-bop wonder that gave the album its title. It kicks off with the pianist delivering an ostinato, which, minutes later, is reutilized by the bassist to install the groove. The bandleader embarks on an effusive back-and-forth solo, discharging equal parts of melody and rhythm, and the energy doesn't faint when Neumann unleashes his clear-sighted chops over a rock-inflected vamp.

The orchestra opened their tribute with a composition entitled, “A Night into Tunisia”, which displays Afro-Cuban rhythms. Dr. Williams requested this type of music when planning for the orchestra’s upcoming performance. The orchestra's artistic director, Dennis B. Reynolds, recalled Dr. Williams said “ Man, I want the band to play some

The second vocal ensemble of the night started out with a song which included a twelve bar blues, called “ I use to know you”. This performance consisted of the most combinations of solos of the night as well as using an improvising style. The entire band started all together which led to a Trumpet solo. Then Jose on the Sax did his solo followed by the pianist comping. Then the choir along with the band joined together to lead to a female solo which was particularly interesting since she was scatting. The second performance of this ensemble was “Spring can really hang you up the most” which consisted of 3/4 time and 4/4 time. This started with a female solo vocalist then a male one. The band as a whole played together and ended with a male solo scatting. The third and shortest performance of the night was a vocal acapella piece, “Love walked in” which was short and sweet. The fourth performance of the night was a Richmond Rogers piece. This had a rhythmic swing/salsa feel from the “Lady is a tramp”. This started with the rhythm section, with the male vocalist and horns. Then the female vocalist from the choir joined and concluded this piece. The fifth performance for the group was a sequel to voice stand an acapella piece by Greg Jaspers. This song started with the choir using their voices as the instruments altogether. The final performance of the night was one of