The lights dimmed in the back of the City College Auditorium 6 and suddenly a barren tree silhouette is shone through a light projector against the scarlet velvet curtain, but the City College jazz band’s Oct. 15 performance under the direction of Rob Knable was anything but spare.
The audience was taken through the musical scales to discover a whole new world where The musical variety enveloped and caressed the audience into a sweet-like yet festive dreamlike world where time ceased and jazz ruled.
The professionalism of the band as evidenced by their posture, formal wear, and the unity of the band as a whole reminded me of a PBS special spotlighting a philharmonic orchestra or band at some famous concert hall.
The performance’s opening piece, “So What” composed and written by Miles Davis and arranged by Mark Taylor was a classic example of swing jazz.
It was silky smooth and featured an arsenal of trumpets and the bombastic beating of drums and crashing cymbals. It was a cohesive, oxymoronic mix that worked effectively because the soft bellowing from the bass, xylophone and piano kept the chaotic flurry of other notes rolling at a steady pace.
The next piece was an arrangement of Latin jazz from Brazil called “Agua De Beber” (Water to drink) written and composed Antonio Carlos Jobin. The melody’s name can only be too fitting. The audience was left thirsty for more Latin jazz. During the melody’s playing the audience was propelled to the sandy moonlit beaches of Copacabana Bay and the Brazilian tropical night scene. The only missing aspect to make the scene come to reality was a margarita and fruit-topped Carmen Miranda.
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Only two pieces from the eight-piece musical repertoire had vocals, provided from music instructor Aiko Hamaguchi. “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” by Duke Ellington and “Broadway” by Mann, Weil, and Stoller. The vocals were terrific and had amazing clarity, and the vibrato was angelic. Her voice in the pieces seemed to imitate Ella Fitzgeerald, Amy Winehouse and the opening vocals to Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man” music video.
Though practically flawless, there were still instances where mishaps occurred. During the performing of “In Walked Bud”, Knable had to abruptly stop the band because of faltering musicians and off-key notes. Knable even joked about the instance comparing it to a GPS system.
“Have you ever used a GPS system and suddenly missed a turn? It usually says ‘recalibrating, recalibrating”. This is what we are going to do now — recalibrate.”
But on an overall scale the show was, like the final number’s title, “Pure and Simple”. Yet at the same time was refined, profound, and elegant.
Click here for information on future performances from the music department.