Kayla Schwartz Jazz Vocal Performance

Although I enjoyed the concert, it was very different than how I normally think of jazz. It sounded as if they're playing could've been improvisatory. Although I know that's not the case, at many parts it felt like there were three musicians playing separate pieces that didn't go together. It felt very free, and possibly purposely made to be unique. As they announced titles, they would indicate where the song comes from. Sometimes, they would indicate one of their band members and sometimes it would their version of someone else's song, such as their song “The Robots.” You can see the personalities of the musicians as they play and in their songs. The drummer, Dave King, wrote one of their songs “Keep the Bugs Off Your Glass and The Bears Off Your Ass” and was the most freestyle player. He seemed to have fun, and looked like he was completely free as he played. After relistening to the songs at a later point, I can confirm that not just his playing, but the entire song wasn’t exactly the same, which leads me to believe they do a lot of freestyle typical in jazz. Specifically, Dave King was very humorous throughout the concert. He would tell jokes the entire time between songs, and told a story about his big dream to give out ice cream at their concerts one day. Out of all of them, his personality and playing shined out the most. The performance showed clear elements of jazz and popular music as they played, using syncopation, freestyle, and melodies to musically communicate with the

First, the overall tone in all three pieces was phenomenal, but there were a couple spots during the performance that were not as amazing as the rest of the performance. In the first song, Hamilton by Jerry Brubaker, it was hard to hear certain sections

The end of the 1920s was known for the ending of the silent film in Hollywood. With the advancement of sound technology, it has transformed the way we view films in today’s world. It all began with a film called The Jazz Singer, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Al Jolson, Warner Oland, and May McAvoy. The film is about a little boy named Jakie, whose father is a Jewish cantor, and he defied his father by not wanting to follow the family tradition of cantors. He wanted to be a performer, specifically, a jazz singer. One day, he was discovered by his neighbor Moisha and thus he got beat up and kicked out of the house. Jakie vowed to never return home. A decade later, Jackie is a performer with the help of his lover Mary with a new identity by the name of Jack Robin who wears a black face when on stage. One night, his father fell ill and was asked to sing at the synagogue, however, it fell on the same day as his opening show on Broadway. Jakie had to make a tough decision choosing between his family or his career.

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.

Going to the jazz performance at the Bechtler showed me a different side of the community in Charlotte coming together. At the Bechtler Museum host, an annual night of jazz the theme for this performance was Jazz Night for Lovers. They had two shows, which both sold out. The line to get in was so long and full with young couples and older couples as well. Once were allow inside the venue everyone took there sits and watched as a beautiful 14-year-old girl sing her heart to the crowd. The crowd loved her and her performance. Things got even better when the jazz band got on stage and there special performer.

Brittany Russel sang “Nobody Love”, she sang with magnificent range and gave the audience a nice pair of chills down their arms, because you could tell she sang from a personal perspective. She carries this certain style where it’s very raw and emotional. To bring an upbeat into the room Madison Slamka and Gillian Marino’s performance of The Beatles “Come Together” allowed the audience to release their worries and stress of the week that lay behind them. Their duet performance was entertaining and colorful, the two girls added their own style which gave the performance an extra twist on the song. This allowed the girls to not just sing the same style as the original artist, but to take the next step and recreate a clever, melodic song into something that was their own. One of my favorite performances of the night was The A Cappella Group. Their three numbers were amazing and left me wanting so much more. Even though Callie Atkinson was a featured soloist performing Hold my Hand, the groups back up was essential for the emotional feeling of the song. As incredible as their performances were, there was this one distractions to the group. The random movement of their upper bodies drew attention away from the

On Friday night, November 13, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. I attended the Manhattan School of Music for the Jazz Orchestra that performed by Jazz vocalists and MSM alumni Jane Monheit and many other musicians. That place is unlikely the ordinary place, people have appropriate dress on and have nicely etiquette toward the performers, unlike me, many of audiences seem like that they come to this concert with certain knowledge of Jazz orchestra. And its musical venue was the ideal spot for the concert, so I sat in a decent spot spot that located at midst of the concert hall where I can view all the performers and hear performers’ music clearly. And the conductor informally began the show was quite nicely and politely which made me feel really comfortable

I have listened to this song but I found the performance by C-Sus Voices was more fun and enjoyable. Each member played as an instrumental roles as bass, beatbox, low and high notes supports as an acapella style which without any instrument. In this performance, I love the atmosphere and the moods that the groups brought out. In this pieces, it didn’t look like they were performing but they really played and enjoyed what they were doing, which also influence the audiences’ moods. Even though Maggie Niscasio the one who sang this song was really tired, but they seemed brought me and audiences a relaxed moment and an enjoyable atmosphere. Also, the song “Singing in the Rain” was another piece that was played by C-Sus Voices, which mixed with Rhianna’s Umbrella. This performance gave me different feelings by combining two songs as one. By singing these two songs together in the Jazz style, C-Sus Voices seemed performing a new song c and matching perfectly between the Rain with the Umbrella. Also in this performance, I loved the way they played the songs and the atmosphere. Overall, I felt really relaxed and I enjoyed the performance played by C-Sus

The third song of the concert that I was interested in was called “Im Blue”. The general character of this song is mellow and has a New Orleans jazz melody to it. Rhythm in the song has a nice calming harmonious tone to it throughout. The timbre in this song is calming color to it making it a peaceful piece. The emotional content in this song come from the sax player when it’s his time to shine the whole band engages with everyone grooving out. The tempo of the song is very calming and brings you into a relaxing body feel. The emotional content also comes from the lyrics itself rather than from

They would then stand up and take a bow. The female member, Erica von Kleist, was very good at the alto saxophone. I also liked Mario Rivera who played the tenor saxophone. The soloists’ that would perform during each song would stand when it was time for there solo. My favorite song of the night was entitled “Wild Jungle”. Before the song Arturo gave us a brief introduction on what to expect. He mentioned a saxophone duo solo between Mario Rivera and one of his fellow band members that he taught. Arturo referred to the solo as “the master vs. the apprentice.” When the solo began my jaw dropped. It was so fast and lovely to listen too. Both musicians went back and forth playing. I could not tell who was a better saxophone player. Mario Rivera must have taught his student really well because they were both remarkable. In this song there was also a bongo solo that really caught my attention. The musician played so fast and kept a perfect beat.

This piece gave that great smooth jazz feel that I associate with saxophone playing. His articulation and vibrato is just beautiful. Also, it sounds like the saxophone was the main part in the group, and I enjoy saxophone solos like

I loved the improvisations for this recital, especially the saxophonist from Konrad Plays Klarinet, Colin Houlihan. As a former saxophonist, the tone and constant improvisation was incredible as he put his entire soul into that instrument. Sweating, smiling and happy, anyone could tell that Colin was happy to be there. “So Dance Samba” by Antonio Carlos Jobim also had a lot of improvises. “So Dance Samba” started with the frontline playing together for a certain section before individual solos played. The clarinet improvised with long notes at a high pitch and gradually got faster in notes as the sound increased. The trombone solo had a strong forte resonance with a percussion background and electric guitar background. The pianist solo used syncopated notes and many arpeggios that were in the higher register. The electric guitar solo slowly built up his part, the clarinet played another solo and then the last solo went to the percussionist. The percussionist and the entire band made it seemed like the piece had ended, and then they would play again which made me very

Surprisingly, the children were quite attentive as they watched the concert. A few parents, unlike their children, did not pay attention. Rather, they used their phones, but it did not serve as a distraction for myself. Furthermore, the concert followed their introduction with a jazz variation of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Jazz and blues derived from North America. Murray Low, the pianist, began with a solo. He encouraged the audience to sing together, or a call-and-response. It was a reminder of the call-and-response form of the work songs in North America, except that the piece that the trio performed was not exactly a work song. The work songs were primarily used to coordinate production and to pass time (Titon). One example of the call-and-response is the YouTube video, “Rosie.” The leader starts with a line and the rest respond next. The bassist, Germaine, and the drummer, Krosnick followed. It was a least favorite due to the context of the blues; it expressed a heartbreak and sadness, which does not mix well with the piece (Titon). The second piece was Un Nuevo Dia, a samba piece which originated in Brazil (Titon). Samba is performed during celebrations such as carnival in Brazil (Titon). It was my favorite since Samba Batucada was blended. During the samba piece, the children sitting nearby came out of their seats and began dancing. They urged their parents to dance with them. The third piece was Mobius Trip, a blues piece. The blues originated from North America, and the piece incorporated blues elements such as improvisation and the “blues music (and jazz and reggae) shifts into and out of polymeter, playfully teasing the boundary” (Titon). The fourth piece was Gallope, which is an Afro-Cuban piece. It uses a clave-based rhythm and improvisation (Titon). Throughout the concert I have noticed that each musician held eye-contact and a

The concert was performed on the Southam Hall stage at the NAC; this is a large hall with extremely good acoustics. It is a nationally known stage, so the quality of the hall is very good. Generally, the audience was very receptive as it was composed of adults, who were all silent. The acoustics were very good as the hall spread the sound throughout the hall without making it echo. This had a positive effect on the performance, because it was possible for the orchestra to be clearly heard from any point in the entire hall. I was impressed by the large number of students that I saw that night because the show deserved to have been heard by many young people.

On Thursday April 25, 2013 , I attended a jazz vocal concert at the Music Concert Hall. The first vocal ensemble opened up the performance with a slow rhythmic song called Blue Skies. It began with vocals and I noticed a light auxiliary percussion and drum rhythm. Also, the bass guitarist used walking bass and the piano and electric guitar joined in as well. The first song also consisted of two soloist Regina and Chantel who took the front stage to show off their chops. After the solo performances they fell back into the vocal sections and finished off the song as a complete band. The second performance had a piano opening which led to vocals joining in at the same time as the rhythm section. This performance