KSC Jazz Combos rocked the Alumni Recital Hall in the Redfern Arts Center on Friday, March 28, playing pieces of classic jazz, group-made mash-up songs and a piece arranged by a student. The performance was composed of two groups that practice on Fridays, one at 3 p.m. and one at 4 p.m.
“We gather together every Friday to pursue the creative and productive habits that are presented when you play music in a small community like we do,” said Steve Cady, adjunct professor of music and director of Jazz Combos.
Cady said the primary focus of the group is practicing and performing jazz “literature.” However, he added, “We’re also very inclined to and enjoy working on music from pop culture and especially from student-initiated ideas.”
Cady said he felt the pieces that may receive the strongest reception from the crowd were suggested by students in the groups. The student musicians were excited for the spring performance as well.
Miles Johnstone, a senior and tenor saxophonist in the 3 p.m. group, said before the performance, “This is my last one [combos performance]. I am excited, combos is next to jazz ensemble as one of my favorite ensembles that I’ve ever performed in, so I’m excited, but also kind of sad that it’s my last one.”
First-year and guitarist in the 4 p.m. group Bryce Boyd-Tucker said, “I’m very nervous, but it’s going to be good.”
Senior Laura Sandman, flutist and pianist in the 3 p.m. group, was appreciative of Cady’s openness to song choices.
“We are doing the song ‘So What’ by Miles Davis, specifically because Steve [said] we need to swing some, not everything needs to be straight, which goes to show how accepting he is of other music genres,” said Sandman.
The first set, played by the 4 p.m. group, opened with student non-jazz song choices from the Pokémon video game series called “Guzma Battle Sequence” and including a piece by Frank Zappa and one by contemporary artist Sierra Ferrell. The second set, played by the 3 p.m. group, featured a performance of the Beatles song “Ask Me Why,” which was arranged by junior and bassist Max Orio.
Melissa Magaletta, KSC alum ‘74, came out to the show with a friend and fellow alumna, giving a glowing review.
“Fantastic, absolutely great. These students, I think, are going to have wonderful futures,” said Magaletta.
Maxwell Berry, a sophomore, said he enjoyed the performance, saying, “I think jazz combos is definitely one of my favorite kinds of performances to come see, because it is mostly student-led.” He added, “It’s also nice to have a smaller ensemble as well because it is tighter with the communication.”
The performers said they were happy with the spring performance as well. Boyd-Tucker said, “I think that was probably our best run of each song we played and it was a lot of fun.”
“I think it went really well, especially ‘Misty.’ I wasn’t even told that I was going to be playing a solo on that until this afternoon,” said Johnstone.
Cady said, “It was very clean, it really was.”
Cady added the spring Jazz Combos performance was the last performance for senior and guitarist Jake Heisey, senior and pianist Alex Royce, saxophonist Johnstone, flutist and pianist Sandman and guitarist Boyd-Tucker.
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
