Jazz History Example of an A+ Paper PDF

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I took this file with me to the concert and literally took all the notes....

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NAME HERE Professor Varnes MUA 1500 DATE HERE

FIRST REVIEW – THE JUSTIN CHESAREK QUINTET AT CHURCHILL GROUNDS On Wednesday, the 9th of September, the Justin Chesarek Quintet played at Churchill Grounds in Atlanta. As the name suggests, the band consists of five players, Akeem Marable on the alto saxophone, Nick Rosen on the piano, Dan Gilormo on the bass, Craig Shaw on the electric guitar, and Justin Chesarek on the drum set. The ambiance of the jazz bar was exactly as

Comment [jv1]: Lists the musicians and the instrumentation.

one would expect: the small café tables, the martini selections, and the relatively small stage where the instruments were arranged along with their players. The Quintet played a set, consisting of four compositions. The guys began with their own version of a Duke Ellington piece. There were two distinct things that stood out in the performance of this piece. First, Dan Gilormo, the bass player, performed what the text and the course lectures call a walking bass. Arguably introduced by Jimmy Blanton, this technique means that the bassist played his instrument on every beat of the song, smoothing out the swing feel of the song.

Comment [jv2]: Uses notes from the textbook to describe what’s happening in the music.

The other distinguishable characteristic of this version of a Duke piece was call and response. This means, as the name implies, that one or more of the instruments in the group will “call,” or play a melody, and one or more of the remaining instruments in the group will “respond” to the call. Call and response is an age-old jazz trait that can be traced back to the turn of the twentieth century in chain gangs and the origins of blues. In this particular instance, the saxophone and guitar called, and the piano and drums responded. The band’s alto saxophone player, Akeem Marable, composed the second piece, which he entitled, “Funky Special Request.” The most memorable thing about this piece were the solos.

Comment [jv3]: Name of one of the songs

Nolan

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Obviously written by a saxophone player, this song began with a saxophone solo, which Akeem performed seemingly with ease. In fact, Akeem's demeanor was reminiscent of Louis Armstrong, at least in the careful attention paid to detail and performance appearance. Following Akeem, the rest of the players in the group took turns playing solos and improvising on the melody. The third song in the set that was played was a Justin Chesarek original, called “Hesitation.” Beginning slowly with only the drums, possibly implying a melancholy or saddened mood, the song quickly picked up tempo when the rest of the band began to play along. Besides the substantial length of the piece, two other elements were notable. First, the song had strong swing implications, which, as defined in class lectures, are attributable to the accentuation of beats two and four, instead of one and three. The resulting sound is easy flowing and, for a lack of a better word, jazzy. The other distinguishable element in this piece was the pianist practicing boogie woogie piano style. Again, this is defined in class as the pianist keeping the left hand stationary to play rhythm chords and sometimes to “walk” with the bass, while the right hand improvises on the melody. Another element that was found in this piece that has already been defined in detail was the walking bass. Finally, the last piece of the set that the Justin Chesarek Quintet played was composed by their friend, Jacob Dean, entitled, “Attack of the Dorians.” Much like the original piece by Justin Chesarek, this composition began with a drum solo, which was quickly followed by a piano solo. During this particular piano solo, Dan Gilormo seemed to return to the boogie woogie technique to deliver his part. After these two instruments played solos entirely by themselves, the rest of three remaining players joined in, in a series of solos exhibiting an immense amount of

Comment [jv4]: Description of a song.

Nolan

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improvisation. In fact, though the solos and improvisations came together well, the piece as a whole did not seem to follow any distinguishable melody. As far as major jazz influences that might have had an impression on the players of the Quintet, because their style of jazz is self-described as “original jazz,” their particular sound was slightly different than what has been covered in class. Due to this, and because they chose to do their own version of a Duke Ellington piece, it is safe to assume that the members of the Justin Chesarek Quintet have taken pieces of many major jazz figures and incorporated them into their study of the music, both individually and as an ensemble. Overall, the Quintet did a wonderful job. Though the delivery of Duke Ellington’s piece in the beginning did not hit home, things began to shape up during the performance, and by the end of the first set, the audience was really impressed. The players seemed really comfortable, both up on stage and playing together as an ensemble. The majority of the music played came across as very well rehearsed and organized. Each player was individually talented, and their talents complimented each other. They delivered a great show – it boiled down to really talented guys having a good time, playing exceptional jazz, and staying professional.

Comment [jv5]: This is a great example of a personal impression, WITHOUT using 1st person (“I” “We” etc.)...