Chris O’Reilly

MU1005

Section 1

5/7/13

Big Band Jazz Concert

I went to the jazz concert on Wednesday, May 1. It was a big band concert, with two

jazz groups. The first group that went had five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, a

piano, a bass player, and a drummer. The drummer originally scheduled to play that night was

on a trip and couldn’t make it so they had a replacement there for the show. This drummer

was a senior and the director gave him a hard time, they obviously knew each other fairly well.

As for the music, they did a good job playing their parts. Several players had solo’s and

each were done very well. I was impressed by the overall show. There were a lot of people at

the concert and the director made comments about the large percentage of jazz studies

students attending that night.

My buddy, who I went to the show with, pointed out one of the trombone players and I

recognized him from some of my classes. I talked to him after the show and he said he had a

good time. I didn’t know that he was a part of the band before that. There was another person

I recognized, Nick Allen, who played trombone. The band director gave him a hard time as well

and brought up some of his nicknames.

I had never been in the Weber Music Hall before the show so it was interesting to see

the stage and where the audience sat. I didn’t realize there were seats behind the band. This

section was mostly filled with students, most likely in jazz studies.

I noticed that most of the elderly people there chose seats in the balcony, and I

wondered why they chose those seats, and if they were better for some reason. You could tell

how interested people were in the show by what seats they chose. The really interested ones

seemed to sit in the center balcony or center floor seats. The ones who left right away sat near

the door and were obviously uninterested. This made me feel bad for the band and I wondered

what they expected for audience staying there and if it upset them when people left.

The second group was much like the first, with five saxophones, four trumpets, two

trombones, a piano, a bass, and drums. The introduction for this group, however, seemed

shorter than that of the first. They both played similar music and both were very good. I

noticed how each person had their own sort of playing style and even though the music was

already written for them, they added their own style to it. This sometimes was even just how

they danced with their instrument during a solo. Other times it was with the use of vibrato or

something similar.

One of the songs sounded very familiar and I wondered if it was because we had played

it in high school. It made me miss playing in a band. They all seemed to have a great time with

it and enjoyed playing with each other and working with one another.

Overall, the concert was performed very well and I think the director did a great job

organizing the band. At times he would just stand there and let the band keep beat by itself

which was very impressive for all of them to keep that organized. Often it’s hard to keep time

even with a director, so I was impressed by their ability to play solo.