 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Articles | ||
The evening opened with Justin Aramati’s D block Jazz Seminar class performing Robert Rossi’s “Canta por Anna”, a Latin tune with a straight feel featuring a sole alto sax (David Kim) on the melody. Continuing with pianist Matt Isaacs’ “Happy Go Lucky”, the stage filled as the head incorporated five horns, and then emptied for pianist Jeremy Weiser’s “Slow Rolling”, for which the melody and solos were comprised entirely of guitar, piano, bass, and drums. The class’s program concluded with trumpeter Phil Rauscher’s “Half the Fun(k)”, a funk tune with the trumpet-alto sax tandem of Phil Rauscher and Vincent van Mierlo on the opening head. The class’ program, consisting entirely of original compositions, placed a strong emphasis on taking traditional chord progressions and creating new melodies over them. The second of the two seminar classes, Jeff Leonard’s G block, took the stage. This time, the class incorporated two standards in addition to two student compositions. Guitarist Andrew Tarrh’s “Skeptical Rhapsody” was the first tune, and featured the unique instrumentation of two alto saxes, a flute, a trumpet, and a violin. “Doxy”, a classic Sonny Rollins piece, followed, proceeded by guitarist Mattias Huebener’s “4×6” was the second student composition of the evening. Horace Silver’s standard “Sister Sadie” with its recognizable and exciting melody concluded the evening. As the seminar portion of the evening ended, the nine-piece Jazz Septet ushered in the second half of the concert. Varying in size from year to year, the Septet this year consists of nine members: violinist Brian Shin, alto saxophonist Nate Tarrh, trumpeters Phil Rauscher and Christian Ulmer, pianist Yoni Cooper, guitarist Mikko Silliman, bassist Chris Hiller, and drummers David Fink and Evan Rees. First on the group’s set was another Rollins piece, “Strode Rode”, from his album Saxophone Colossus. “Invitation”, by Kaper/Washington, was next up, followed by McCoy Tyner’s “Sama Layuca”, a straight-feel tune with a call-and-response melody between the horns and the vibes, backed by a repeating bass line that served as a backdrop to both the head and the soloing. Capping off the evening, the LHS Jazz Combo then took the stage. A well-known and very well-regarded group around the high school, the Combo this year consists of returning members Evan Marcantonio on trumpet, Nathan Katz on tenor sax, and Raviv Marovitz on bass. New to the group were trumpeter Nick Singer, pianist Steven Feifke, guitarist Ayan Sanyal, and drummer John Cho. Raviv Markovitz’s “Cynicism”, the only student-production of the four pieces performed by the group, kicked off the Combo’s program. “Peggy’s Blue Skylight”, a Charles Mingus tune, continued the set, opening with trumpet and joined by the other horns during the melody. Christian McBride’s “The Shade of Cedar” featured trumpet backgrounds over solos before the horns joined in on the head out. The Combo closed the evening with a rousing rendition of “Donna Lee”, a bop piece commonly attributed to Charlie Parker but in actuality a Miles Davis composition. A fast, exciting melody led straight into solos. The horns entered back in for a head-out based on the original “Back Home In Indiana” form, leaving the audience with what many considered the highlight of the evening. The opening jazz concert of the year will be followed by the first of the Big Band concerts on December 17, also in the Gillespie Auditorium. The Seasonal Concert features the LHS Jazz Big Band as well as the Jazz Ensemble, both of which are comprised of many of the players in the groups that performed at Jazz Nite I. Jazz Nite II will follow shortly after on January 23 in Commons II, with performances by the Septet and Combo, in addition to the beginning jazz classes. -Nihaal Mehta |
||
 |
 |
|
Jazz Nite I on Halloween evening marked the first jazz concert of the year and the annual debut of the jazz program. Featuring numerous student compositions as well as standards performed by the two jazz seminar classes, the nine piece Jazz Septet, and the Jazz Combo, the evening showcased the work put in by the musicians since the beginning of the school year.