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Samra Chouhdry 2/17/2017 Music 114 Professor Armandi UIC’s Jazz Concert On February 15th, University of Illinois at Chicago held a jazz concert with a special guest saxophonist, Chris Potter. Jazz has a distinct stylistic evolution. It evolved in New Orleans, is rooted in African American’s traditions, and is a music without limit where every player can express their emotions in their own way, with their own tunes. In other words – Jazz is improvisation. In my past, I have attended a couple symphony band concerts but I’ve never been to a jazz concert. When our professor told us we will be attending a mandatory jazz concert for this class, I didn’t like the idea of it. To me, jazz concert was just a bunch of noises from a bunch of instruments. Even ten minutes before the concert, I was standing outside the door waiting with a pen and a notebook in my hand so I could take notes and leave. However as soon as I walked in, it was an entirely different atmosphere from what I was expecting. Unlike the other concerts I attended, there was a small audience of about 200 people, all chairs facing towards the stage of course. I was amazed to see the audience. The entire room was well attended, with mostly college students and couples. The room didn’t look too large from my perspective; giving me a closer and more connected feel to the band. As people started walking in, I noticed everyone was wearing causal clothes, and it all seemed so relaxing and comfortable, however the musicians were dressed formally in suits. The crowd and the musicians were very diverse in age, culture as well as in race. The lights were dim on the audience and the spotlight was on the stage. On the

top stage, there were four musicians who were playing the trumpets, followed by three people on the bottom stage playing trombones. There was one guy playing the guitar, one was playing the piano, and the other played the drums. Not just this, but there was flute, clarinet and different types of saxophones. As soon as it was 6:59, I knew I was in for one hell of a ride. And as it turned out, I was right. The band I observed had two different sections to it. In the first section, the UIC Jazz Ensemble played three songs ‘Lion and the Lamb’, ‘Leaving’, and ‘Detour Ahead’ directed by Andy Baker. ‘Lion and the Lamb’ is written by John Wojcichowski. It started out with the trumpets of three different melodies, followed by a few piano keys. It was soft and slow at first, but after a couple repetitive notes, the song picked up and the drums started playing. The saxophone came in next, and as soon as I heard it play, it instantly became my favorite instrument. The syncopated melody for all the songs made it hard for me to count the bars. In class, when our professor is counting the bars, he makes it look so easy and it is easy to follow his hand motions in identifying the harmony of the song. However, when I was trying to count the bars for each song, I realized it wasn’t that easy since all the instruments were played together and I didn’t know which beat to count to. The second song in this section was ‘Leaving’, written by Richie Beirach and arranged by Jim McNeely. From this section, this was from favorite song, because of the soft beats and Pirtle’s amazing voice. What I found really interesting was that the singer didn’t greet anyone when she came to the stage. It was almost like she was keeping her voice a surprise till her first verse of the song. I could feel the excitement in the crowd to hear what her voice would be like. I was expecting a thick, opera-like voice but I couldn’t be more wrong. Her voice was very delicate, soft, and beautiful. You could see her passion on her face, and not just her but all the musicians looked very passionate and ardent

about their performance. This made the audience like their music even more. In this song, there was a single scale that was used for solos. When she first started to sing, all the instruments stopped. This song was heavily based on piano and trumpets, which the singer followed exquisitely. Everything was in sync, the tempo was fast and created intensity. The singer would stop singing until the melody went to a climax and she started singing again when it fell down with a brief pause of background music. I noticed that the trumpets had a different timbre and volume throughout the song. Curiously, I stared at their trumpets and I realized they were using mutes! I wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for my professor, who went over it in class with us. He showed us a video in class where a guy used different mutes to alter the tonal quality of an instrument. Remembering that, it was kind of fascinating to see someone actually use it in real life. I also noticed not all the mutes were the same. Some were shaped differently than the other. I was sitting a little further way, but from what I could see, I think two of the trumpeters were using the cup mute and two of them were using straight mute. After listening to it clearly, I could almost hear how the mutes helped blend in the trumpet with other instrumentalist. They were often using it when the singer sang on a low-pitch so its volume would decrease. Throughout the song, there was a rare use of a saxophone. The third and last song for this section was ‘Detour Ahead’ which is written by Herb Ellis, John Frigo and Lou Carter, and was arranged by Matt Harris. From our class discussion, I remembered researching about Billie Holiday and I learned that she actually did a cover version of this song in 1949. This song, out of the three, was the loudest. It had an abrupt start to it, but a down leading end with a trumpet. There was the use of mutes again, and a more frequent use of saxophone. It also had lyrics, and the singer Morgan Pirtle recited them classically. Whenever she sang, the trumpets would alter their tone, and when the saxophone played there was a brief

minute where other instruments stopped playing. Liking saxophone the most, it definitely was the favorite part of the song. There was a more prominent use of drums, and the tempo remained loud and funky throughout. What I didn’t like about this song was that there were some parts where the instruments were so loud, you just couldn’t hear the singer and it gave you a headache. Weirdly, this is when I noticed a guy standing in front of the band moving his hand with the flow of the song. I’ve seen it in musical videos, but I just thought they were there for show. But the more I paid attention to him, the more I could see how he was conducting his band, helping them keep the tempo, and keep their focus on the speed of the music, the volume, the pauses, and the lengths of it. Then came the second part of the section, featuring the star guest Chris Potter. Chris potter is a Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist. He is also a composer, a multi-instrumentalist, and a bandleader. He won Denmark’s Jazzpar Prize, and has recorded with many leading names in jazz including Dave Douglas! Therefore, it was such an honor having him at our university and hearing him play the saxophone. The songs he performed were ‘Got the Keys to the Kingdom’, ‘The High Road’, ‘Morning’, ‘Quick’, ‘The Steppes’, ‘Narrow Road’, and ‘Totally’. In these songs, there were many interesting aspects of genres happening. His songs had different focus on the tempos, the dynamics and the tones from the music we heard previously, which evoked various emotions in me. Out of the seven he performed, the two I loved the most were The High Road and Morning. The High Road started off with the saxophone. There were light drums, and the trumpeters were using the mutes. First only two of four were participating, and then slowly the other two joined harmonically. The melody was extremely classic and outstanding. My absolute favorite part of this song however, was the solo trombone! You could tell that he was really into it, and I loved how beautifully he held up every beat despite of his

long solo melody. Slowly the drums joined, and as soon as he ended his harmony, Chris Potter took off from where he left off. He played the same harmony with the saxophone that was played before by the trumpet. It was the best collaboration, since everyone was passing the tunes to each other without a single second on silence between the trades of melody. This song ended on a repetitive length with a saxophone towards the end. Out of my two favorites, The Morning was my top one. It was a beautiful piece with a peaceful romantic upbeat. There was someone playing a guitar, the flute that went exquisitely with the harmony, soft drums, piano and trumpets. It started off with no trumpets or trombone, just guitar flute and drums, and slowly it picked up the tone as Chris Potter joined in with this saxophone. The dynamics were soft throughout the song. The repetitive melody was very soothing, and from the other pieces of the concert, this was a pretty yet different genre/style. The other songs he played were very delightful as well. But these two stood out to me the most. Chris’s talent of playing the saxophone is outstanding, and it was a pleasure hearing him play. After I stepped in the room, my idea for jazz changed completely. Hearing the music live made it everything seem like it was in black and white, like I was in the 20th century. I had a wonderful time at the concert, the audience was really enthusiastic and the instrumentalists were really passionate about the concert. They were excited to play their part in creating the striking harmonies. The quality was amazing, and even after 90 minutes of constantly playing, the musicians were more than happy to stay back, talk about their performance, and answer questions from the students. This jazz concert gave me an opportunity to experience a unique atmosphere none like any concerts I’ve attended. It put my book knowledge to a practical use. It wasn’t easy to count beats or keep track of all instruments playing in a song, but it was fascinating to see how a few instruments can evoke such emotions and represent deeper meaning

to the sounds it makes. I could tell people were enjoying the concert because they were bobbing their heads, snapchatting the event, tapping their feet, and taking extensive notes after the song was over. Even though this concert was mandatory to attend, I’m glad I did because it helped me understand why people love jazz. Before this, the only jazz I heard was at Starbucks or in movie backgrounds. But to actually experience the thrill, it was worth the stay. Saxophone remains my favorite instrument, and I look forward on attending more jazz concerts....