A Review of a Jazz Concert.
Studying in a school that is prominent for music performances exposes me to all type of genres of music and the newest music-themed events. But jazz music concerts, in particular, captured my interest because of the smooth instruments and the rich culture involved. On the eve of 20 February 2020, I rush to the School theatre for the much-anticipated jazz concert.
The concert was performed by the most famous boyband- the Jacksons orchestra. The Band Director, Martin Jackson, gave a brief introduction to one of the pieces, Mambo Inn. Among the background story he gave, he mentioned the words “Latin influence”. As the piece was being played, that phrase resonated with me, as the Latin influence was more than apparent. Two drummers were using seemingly muffled and syncopated drum techniques and to achieve a sound that reminded me of coconuts and the tropics.
The kind of timbre demonstrated by the band was a combination of bright and dark themes depending on the mood of the moment. It was a perfect balance. The meter was really hard to pick up because of the syncopation and lack of conventional drumming instruments or techniques that I was used to. I spent a lot of the time over the course of the song trying to pin down the meter, and I couldn’t. One of the percussionists used some sort of wooden instrument to achieve this sound that sounded like someone saying the word “clock, the other sat at a drum set and played a lot of cymbals in a syncopated and allegro fashion. I was surprised to see that not a single snare was hit over the entire piece. Certainly, the culture shock I experienced from the syncopation and weird percussion was from the pieces Latin influence
The blues influences on the pieces played over the night were also very apparent. The piece Blues ‘n’ Bop, even has “blues” in its name. A lot of pieces had blues techniques, and blues forms that make their blues influence almost just as apparent as that, such as Mambo Inn as well as a few other pieces were played in a very apparent 12-bar blues form. The time when pieces got most bluesy was during solos and improvisation. Specifically, when the time in the piece came for solos, the trombone, drums, guitar, and piano kept that same 12-bar blues form as the various trumpets or sax’s improvised. The improvisation showed blues references by soulfully sliding up and down pitches using the chromatic scale, and by playing with andante and prestospeeds to push and pull the listener: Both very blues like techniques common inthis era.
In one of their pieces, the solos were even more apparent in their blues techniques. There was one long sax solo in which the saxophone player used a lot of half-notes and moaning sounds to build up to this significant rise in pitch, and then took it back down the same way, throwing in moans in a very bluesy way. In other parts of the piece, the random use of mutes in trumpets and trombones also gave a bluesy sound. Trombone would even throw a few loud slides during the progression of the song for an added effect. All again, very blues like techniques
The overall performance used plenty of harmonious tunes with some dissonance. The combination came out perfectly. Some songs like take the trainhad swing influence because of the arrangement of the lyrics and the play of saxophone. I would say this brought about the harmony which shaped the mood.
At the end of the show, I decided to read the history of jazz. I discover that jazz is a combination of many cultures, from baroque to blues, to African and Caribbean styles. The influences of Latin American culture, baroque, swing and blues are very evident in jazz. This era of 20th-century music is trying to break through and exert some influence, and jazz is a perfect example (Bracalente et al.,2011). It was a shocking revelation because I never saw jazz as a combination of cultures so different from the rest of the world. However, today was the day I lived. During the show, I noticed an abundance of cultural influences in every sound, instrument and musical flow.
In conclusion, the concert was a big success. The audience was very excited since everyone was singing and dancing along with every bit of the songs. Whenever the leading artist requested the audience to sing along, everyone was on their feet. I felt I belonged to the concert because I connected with the music.
References.
Bracalente, Bruno, et al. “The economic impact of cultural events: the Umbria Jazz music festival.” Tourism Economics 17.6 (2011): 1235-1255.
History of Jazz | Black History in America | Scholastic.com. Teacher.scholastic.com. (2020). Retrieved 17 April 2020, from http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/history_of_jazz.htm.