On November 23rd, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever jazz jam session at the Schorr Family Firehouse Stage and Goodwill Theater. The “Jazz Jam” took place from 7pm- 9pm and it was full house with an audience of at least fifty people. There were people of all ages and ethnicities showing how ability of jazz to unify different groups of people. The jam session started off with eight performers, three of whom were part of the rhythm section, which consisted of drums, piano, and bass. Tony Andwino played the alto saxophone;
Michael Carbone was on the tenor saxophone, Tom Bonzetti played the guitar, Brad Demsick played the drums, Tony Moreno played the bass, Gene Cothran was on the piano, and there was trombone player and a soprano sax player whose names weren’t mentioned. Throughout the performance I noticed that the musicians often switched instruments and certain musicians performed only for certain songs. The musicians were all very talented and not only were they entertaining when they played their instruments, but they were also communicating with the audience in between songs, which made every aspect of the performance enjoyable.
The first song of the performance was a piece titled “All Blues” by Miles Davis. It was a smooth and soft song to start off the performance, yet it did a great job of sparking the audience’s interest. One of my favorite solos for this song was the piano solo because I appreciated his simple yet refined style of playing. He preferred to use longer phrases and took advantages of the pauses and breaks to make his solo even more powerful, which was impressive considering that he didn’t have the freedom to play around with dynamics like the other musicians. His solo was bright and lively even though the song was mellow, and the drummer seemed to be jamming along well with the piano player because he played a lot of fills that complimented the piano solo.
Throughout the piece the drummer managed to keep a steady tempo by playing a swing rhythm on the ride cymbal, and he did a good job of making sure that the tempo didn’t speed up or slow down. There was a lot of syncopation in the song, which was made obvious by the drummer playing the high hat on beats two and four, which really seemed to lock in the groove for the entire band. The bass player also did a great job of keeping the band together, and I was surprised that it was easy to hear the bass because the low pitch of the instrument sometimes makes it difficult to hear over the other instruments.
The tension in the piece was well balanced, adding richness and density to the piece and wasn’t obnoxious, which can be attributed to the skill level of the musicians. This song was from the cool jazz era so it didn’t necessarily have the drive of a ‘swing’ piece, but it was definitely captivating. This piece had the form AAB which is characteristic of the 12 bar blues. The rhythm of this piece wasn’t too complex, which explains why the piece was so smooth. The melody and harmony of the piece complimented each other very nicely, with the alto sax playing beautifully over the rest of the band during the choruses. This was definitely a great piece for the band to start with.
“Georgia on My Mind” was a great jazz standard played towards the middle of the song, which featured a talented vocalist alongside a tenor saxophonist. There was a great deal of call and response between the sax and vocalist, which created a powerful essence to the song. The vocalist sung passionately while the sax complimented her perfectly by creating a feeling of yearning to leave the listener in a feeling of nostalgia.
The rhythm section did a great job of maintaining a slow and steady pace, which is not easy to do because slow songs usually cause musicians to speed up and rush the piece. The singer took advantage of pauses and breaks to create syncopation with her lyrics allowing her to take full control over the rhythm of the piece, which is usually difficult for a vocalist. She managed to use the range of her voice to create build-ups and releases of tensions, which was reciprocated by the saxophone. These two seemed to be perfectly in sync; creating a piece so beautiful that it could give the listener goose bumps with its gorgeous melody and perfectly accompanied harmony. The form of this tune was a 32 bar blues in the format of AABA. This song was definitely one of my favorite tunes from the concert.
One of the last tunes that we listened to before leaving was titled “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing”, originally written by Duke Ellington. This was an upbeat tune that really seemed to grab the audience’s attention. Most people were probably very familiar with this tune, and the musicians did a great job of bringing the piece to life.
All of the soloists seemed to “quote” the melody in their solos, and one solo that stood out in particular was the alto saxophone. He seemed to prefer playing in long phrases and kept holding out his notes. His energy was very impressive and captivating. The rhythm section kept a driving tempo throughout the whole piece and didn’t let the tempo drag at all, which was pretty impressive. The syncopation seemed a little bit trickier in this tune, but the band did a great job of sticking together and playing the rhythms evenly. The tension in this piece was rapidly rising and falling, which is expected of a fast paced blues tune. The melodies and harmonies seemed to be contrasting, creating the interesting catchy tune. The form of this tune was a 32 bar AABA format. This swinging tune definitely seemed to get the audience riled up.
I can gladly say that my first Jazz Jam was a great experience. The crowd, the venue and the musicians created a welcoming and wonderful environment to appreciate the beauty of jazz. Jazz is a music that has the power to unite so many different kinds of people, and it’s great to see that songs written so long ago are still being performed today and making an impact in the today’s culture, which is plagued by too much technologically altered music.
