While each group showed differences in musical style, they all displayed great skill and magnificence in their compositions. My favorite piece in the concert was “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr. This piece was performed by the Strickland Quintet and consisted of a tenor saxophone, piano, guitar, drums, and bass. Unlike the previous fast paced pieces performed by this quintet, this piece started off with a slow, adagio, tempo. From the beginning, the performance caught the listener’s ear, as the saxophone played lead, followed by a soft hormonal background from the other instruments.
Roy Eldridge was a trumpet player, considered a link between swing and modern jazz. He varied his texture, size and vibrato on the trumpet in his tone while sometimes being clear and warn and other times begin brittle and edgy. Coleman Hawkins was in turn a saxophone player; he had a deep, husky tone. While he was not interested in developing new tone, he became popular by his chord progressions. The instruments used in swing were brass (trumpets and trombones), saxophone, and rhythm section containing piano, guitar, bass, and drums.
The first group started off the right foot with an interpretation of the Rocky Theme Song. The members of the band used instruments like trumpets, saxophones, trombones, piano, drums, flugelhorns, and clarinets. Throughout the song different members of the band would switch off doing impressive solos, however my favorite was one of the trumpet solos that was performed by Ian Martinez, he truly stole everyone’s attention with his energy and apparent love for his part in the song. The ensemble played many songs I enjoyed, and was excited to hear a rendition of an old classic by Count Basie. The second ensemble and the first ensemble were similar in style, but the second ensemble used considerably less solos and played with an electric guitarist.
Music Composition and Composer Paper Mary Wilson ARTS/340 July 29, 2014 Instructor Marva Ballard-Smoot Music Composition and Composer Paper Beethoven, Mozart, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder are musical artist I enjoy listening too. Each of these artists are genius in their own right. I enjoy the piano, horns and violins that can be heard through their style of music. Each composer have their own brand of uniqueness, harmony, tone colors, textures and rhythm that is reflective in music. In Beethoven, Ninth Symphony, in the first movement it starts out slow, soft and low and then there is second movement which has such an outburst of energy and dramatic tone.
Johnson's Rag has great articulation throughout the song with great brakes. This song is played wonderfully with a mellow trumpet solo and easy going background. Shout section has great energy and
The final song, “Tenor Madness” was written by Sonny Rollin. I really enjoyed listening to this section. In the piece “Tanya” you could really hear the saxophone over the other instruments. The sound of the saxophone really moved me. It almost sounded as if the main saxophone player was begging for Tanya’s love back.
From the beginning of the piece, as the trumpeter makes his entrance, he plays long, drawn-out notes and employs minimal use of vibrato. Gaffney elegantly elongates his phrasing in order to create a soothing atmosphere as the music avoids overt flashiness and distraction, instead relying on its simplicity and steadiness to allow the listener to sink into deep contemplation. Powerful, but not overbearing, the piano accompaniment plays with a multitude of thick chords, providing rich harmonies for the melodic line. According to Bonds, the music’s character may change dramatically as a result of these harmonies (7). Demonstrating this, the piece manages to achieve a thick texture despite only utilizing two instruments due to the combination of the piano’s heavy chords and the trumpet’s warmness and consistency of sound.
The final piece they played was called Strange Humors for String Quartet and Dejembe. This was by far my favorite piece. There was a sound to it that made it sound like it could be the final song in an Indiana Jones like movie. I thought this because of the added bongo sound, and the way that they rarely played the same tune, but it still blended into a desert sounding piece. All in all, I am glad I went to this concert, the first half got a little long, but the second half was very enjoyable.
From creating a “wall of sound” to the call back response of the saxophone in a jazz number, I was able to fully appreciate the wide range of music. My impression of the class going into it was very different then what I got out of it. I think the name of the class should be something more general then a specific genre as rock and roll. I do understand that you have to know how things originated to understand a topic however; the class focused a lot around rock and roll rather than exploring rock and roll in its prime time. Overall the class should have a different
So I was very interested in hearing how they were going to prepare for this. And just like the entire show, I was very moved. The girl hit the perfect notes, and had a very sincere clam soothing voice. The song was enjoying to listen, and was very interesting how that song that was complete different genre could be made into a jazz song. I always loved and had a fascination for the trumpets, even though I cannot play; I always found it the best.