Jazz Performance Review free essay sample

In the month of April, Dad Camera had a series of Jazz concerts at Discovery Green. On April 12 Pamela York and Trombone Summit with Andre Hayward and Thomas Hulled performed before a crowd of Jazz enthusiasts as well as everyday people curious as to what the sounds they were hearing were coming from. Pamela York Is a Canadian born Jazz plants, vocalist and composer (York). She was classically trained at an early age, but when she was exposed to the Likes of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Diana Kraal she was hooked to jazz.She went on to receive her degree from Berkeley College f Music and later got her Masters degree as well. (York) Andre Hayward is a Houston Native that attended HASPS and has been compared to the likes of J. J. Johnson. He started playing trombone at the age of 1 1; this was no surprise as both his parents were musically inclined (Hayward). We will write a custom essay sample on Jazz Performance Review or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thomas Hulled probably stands out most of the concert due to his foreign background. He was born in Sweden but later migrated to Houston in 1997 where he has played with the likes of Ray Charles, Barry Minimal, and Michael Bolton (Hulled).Together all these great musicians put on a ere show for the Houston audience to enjoy on a day with already perfect weather. Pamela York started off the show early on In the day, the weather was nice her music was Inviting as the audience was still settling In. One by one as she started playing the audience began to grow slowly being drawn by the smooth piano playing and vocals. She was on vocals and piano and was playing very upbeat and improvising on piano. There were also drums and an upright bass accompanying York. Her vocals were kept in basically the same range throughout never breaching far into much higher or lower tones. It was very rhythmic and upbeat. She then began playing her rendition of a traditional spiritual called Sometimes I feel Like A Motherless Child. This song felt very bluesy and had a lot of staccato piano playing. The piano notes varied from high to higher tones, with lots of chromatic sounding runs. The feeling of the song felt very neutral, sometimes going Into very dissonant sounding chords and coming back with very consonant sounding scales.After this song she transitioned into another cover but this time of Dream A Little Dream. York seemed to focus more this time on vocals then any of the other Instruments playing. I had heard versions of this song before with Louis Armstrong and Eddie Evader with his ukulele, so I was very biased to hear them with these grand and unique voices. Works version was a bit lacking seeing as she was really emphasizing on the vocals. When someone hears it with the likes of the people mentioned above its very hard to make the song your own and unique.The arrangement of hers also focused the soloing on piano, being only a trio there was no room for other instruments to really shine. In between songs there was a mix of improvisation of the drums and piano each showing off heir virtuoso skills, while the bass didnt really get much time to solo. The overall tone of her performance was much more Influenced by blues I believe, but for my taste It left a bit of a much-needed larger band to fill the emptiness at times. The bass wasnt as present as I would of liked and an Dalton of an Instrument or two could of blended very well to give the performance a fuller and grander sound. Next to head up was the Trombone Summit with Andre Hayward and Thomas Hulled with trombones added gave it a more New Orleans style sound to the mix. It was a bit ore lively and rhythmic; one could almost dance to it. The focus was more on the trombones and its soloing with felt very much improvised through most of its playing.Much like the first performance I felt the bass wasnt as present, it was overshadowed but if played a little louder it would have given it that fuller feeling. In between songs the Swedish trombonist Thomas Hulled came in to give a bit of comic relief with his anecdotes and commentary which was a nice feature that gave the performance a more relaxed and laid back feeling as opposed to Just transitioning from song to song. During each performance each trombonist would take turns soloing and often play i n unison as well. Then a song called Pilafs Polka which I believe was an original by Hulled was played.This song stood out as being an almost anthem like melody one might here at a college football game. The tempo was faster and it was very melodic throughout. The tone of the songs being played by the Trombone summit sounded like it was meant to be heard by the average person or curious Jazz listener as opposed to something that could sound very dissonant that newcomers to Jazz would be put off by. A highlight of the night was when the Trombone Summit started playing the Telethons Monk song Blue Monk, which I immediately recognized from class.The tempo was much slower than the original song and the trombone gave it a smoother legato feeling to it, which made it flow in my opinion better than it would on a sax or piano. Overall the trombonists played it safe and didnt really experiment which extremely high or low tones. Also no over the top soloing which I respect because sometimes musicians, I can plead guilty to this one as well, want to show off or pull Off fast and intense solo that might be insistent of the movie Back to the Future where Michael J Foxs character Just goes into his own world guitar soloing that the audience is left dumbfounded as to whats going on.I appreciated the fact that these musicians kept it simple and enjoyable for everyone as I saw many people drawn to come in and very few, if any, leave during the performance. I enjoyed the concert very much with the second half being a bit more to my taste than the first. It probably helped that by that time the sun was setting and that added to the mood and relaxation that the soft trombones gave off. Being able to Just listen to instrumental songs helped a bit more to enjoy the music.Sometimes hearing lyrics one starts trying to decipher what theyre saying and what the song is about and in the process forgets about the music playin g in the background. Even though the concert was free, there were no formal seats, and it was at a public park, the concert felt very classy and one that people of all ages and backgrounds could enjoy. It was a new experience for me, never having been to a Jazz concert it took me outside my bubble of music that I usually listen to and will definitely be looking out for future Dad Camera Jazz Performances. Jazz Performance Review free essay sample I was able to attend the Brad Mullah Trio in the Loeb Playhouse, with two friends of whom I am in a band with. I was excited to see what this new experience could do to inspire us in a different way. Although I have seen guest speakers numerous times at Loeb Playhouse, this was my first musical show at this venue and I was extremely impressed. Brad Mullah Trio is a trio outing with pianist Brad Mullah, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Jorge Rosy.We made our way to our seats 15 minutes before the show was supposed to start, titling In to the back left side of the mall floor. I was Impressed by how well I could see the stage and Instruments while still sitting about 75% of the way back In the venue. It seemed, by my conversations, all of the students sitting around me were lust there to fulfill some part of their music class, notebooks In hand. We will write a custom essay sample on Jazz Performance Review or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To me, this was first and foremost a great experience, which just so happens to help me write a jazz review. The trio walked on stage a bit before 8:00 PM, gave a quick wave to the audience, and began playing immediately.I was surprised to see only two PA beakers on the stage, because the sound was incredible clear. The sound wasnt loud by any means but because of the acoustics of the room and the respect of the audience it seemed as an acoustic show, other than the microphone attached to the upright bass playing out off bass amp. The bass was the only instrument I felt should have been a notch higher in volume. As they began their set, I first Just wanted to take In their own unique styles being It was the first experience I have had with these musicians.Brad had his grand piano facing so he could look at the bassist and drummer by tilting his head to the eight, but could look to the back of the stage while looking straight on rather than facing the crowd. I thought this was kind of cool, because most of the pianist I have seen do the opposite, to interact with the crowd. Larry, the bassist, seemed like the backbone for the interesting improvisation between the piano and drums. Jorge, the drummer, was my favorite spectacle of the band because of his unique style and he continued to switch up w ith the style of sticks he was using. He began with wire brushes and continued to switch out with normal solid drumstick and capitalistic. As a drummer myself, I was very impressed by how Jorge could playing with a splashily In his right hand a wire brush In his left, to create this unique sound on the fly In the middle of a song. The second song they played was a cover and In the Jazz style most similar to Bebop. It had an extreme tempo and really showed off their ability to stay tight as a group while leaving plenty room for improvising. It is hard to a differing Jazz style.Something that really stuck out to me was this trio had no problem leaving space in their music. Some musicians feel they need to be mutinously outdoing themselves and each other, playing notes for no reason (in my opinion). With Brad Emailed this was not the case, each member is constantly listening for room the may be given to improvise, or listening for when they can allow another member to begin something new or exciting with this newfound space. This group also had phenomenal volume control because each member had extreme precision, helping them to make parts of the song more potent than others.The last thing I noticed was their ability to solo without any regards to the constraints of the pacific tune they were playing. What I mean by that is, you could see and feel the trust in each other to allow each member to express their musical desires without having to step on each others toes. The first example of this was Jorge began a drum solo about midway through the show and it must have last ten minutes. He had many variations throughout the solo and there were many times where I thought they would go back into the original tune, but he pressed on.Near the end of the show, Brad Emailed started a sol o, beginning with a slow tempo, working his way onto the mist of his idea. This solo was much longer than the drum solo and was very impressive, blowing me away numerous times throughout the improvising, and showcasing many different musical ideas. For those who didnt attend, I would give my recommendation 100% for someone who has never seen Brad Emailed Trio. It was a unique experience that broadened my musical horizons and helped me to remember how much music can vary. Meddles, Martin, and Wood can to my mind first as a historically similar band to Brad Emailed Trio.Both bands are piano trios ND the instrumentation is nearly identical other than the lack of an organ with Brad Emailed. Both artists have been around for a similar amount of time, and have made a big impact in the Jazz world. They do differ in the type of Jazz they aim to play (MM-Jazz/rock Fusion; Brad Emailed Trio-Modern Jazz) but seem to be on the same page of improvising. It was interesting to see how different two piano trios could be, because I have seem MM previous to seeing Brad Emailed Trio. This concert was an eye-opening experience that I will remember for quite some time.