The Music Department Jazz band performed at the Green Music Center on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The performance, “SSU Jazz Combos Concert” was directed by professors Ian Carey and Kendrick Freeman. According to the music department website, it was their debut performance of Fall 2021. The theme of this concert was improvisation, and how musicians can get over the hurdle of wanting everything they play to be completely perfect.
“It was great hearing live music in person again. For the past year and a half there has been a dull spot, where in person concerts used to be… but now it is exciting and exhilarating for there to be actual live performances” said event attendee and parent of performer Melia Zimmerman, Leina Zimmerman.
The track list was “Fungii Mama” by Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell, “Whisper Not” by Benny Golson, “Improvisation” by jazz band, “Like Sonny” by John Coltrane, “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues” by Duke Ellington, “Larry Fotine” and Don George, and “Milestones” by Miles Davis.
Professor Ian Carey, director of the Jazz band said that he wanted a diverse setlist in order to show the different subgenres that are within jazz. He continued by saying, “I want someone who has never experienced jazz to see that jazz is much more than the popular songs in today’s modern society.”
The Jazz band includes Martin Contreras on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Brendan Corr on trumpet and vocal, Jonathan Deciccio on alto saxophone and flute, Jomei Greer on piano, EJ Hardy on tenor saxophone, Nick Lucido on drums, and Melia Zimmerman on bass.
Carey was there to help guide the audience on the different songs that were played. He provided insight on all the songs before the band played them. He wanted the audience to know that the group was its own autonomous group that once they play, they have to face anything that comes up unexpectedly, and make decisions on the fly.
The third song they played was the “Improvisation”; Professor Carey wanted the band to see “how they feel in the moment, thus meaning that they can sound like anything they want, rather than thinking and feeling as though they have to play like a trained musician.”
The song was played in duos before they improvised as a group. The first duo was Zimmerman and Hardy, the second duo was Lucido and Greer, and the last duo was Corr and Contreras.
Alexander Brown, a music major at SSU stated that “the improvisation gave me the vibe of a purple alien space world, that has a peaceful society with little or no war.”
While talking with Melia Zimmerman, the bassist, the topic of gender inequality came up because she is a woman in an all-male jazz band. She stated that “she was very thankful and grateful that she has found a group of guys that do not look down on me, just because of my gender.”