Amanda Platz

Imagine yourself in an empty auditorium—well, almost empty, considering its size. At the most, twenty people sit scattered around the auditorium. More people continue to trickle in as you sit towards the back, observing. Some people are students, clearly there to support their friends accomplishments, while others seem to be parents or other adults who simply enjoy jazz. The setting is very casual—most people are wearing what they would wear every day, maybe dressed up a bit with nice jewelry or a scarf. Remember, this is a college performance—most are students, and most have no money. As people trickle in, the ensemble plays a couple pieces, bustling with nervous energy.

The ensemble itself contains about twenty students, plus the professor leading the ensemble. They are all wearing classy all-black attire—the women in black dresses or slacks and a black shirt, and the men in black dress pants and a button-down. They all look very professional and very classy—contrasting the casual nature of the people watching.

A woman in a floral button-up shirt comes on stage and announces the concert—it is about to begin. She says something about a dance floor—apparently they have opened up a dance floor in the front for anyone who feels gutsy enough to get up in front of twenty or more people and show off their non-existent dancing skills. You praise God you’re sitting in the back, and not close to the front where you could get picked on—after all you wouldn’t even dance with one of your good friends at a dance party with other good friends because you didn’t know what you were doing—you were not about to be roped into dancing now. The woman on stage prayed, and the concert began.

The music started immediately—so immediately that you were startled. You forgot how loud jazz is. The lights dim, an you can’t help but sport a small grin as a saxophonist comes forward for a lively solo. It reminds you of your grandmother, who used to play the saxophone. You get an image of a seventy-five year old woman up on stage energetically playing a saxophone, and almost laugh out loud at the mental image. As the musicians continue to play, you close your eyes, and images of La La Land, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone dance in your head. You imagine the jazz club and sport an even bigger grin.

But you got side-tracked. You open your eyes and find yourself floored by the talent necessary for performing jazz music—it is so fast paced, and requires so much musical knowledge, as improvisation is a key element of performing Jazz. You remember your own days of playing music and realize that you never really had skill at all if you compare yourself to these people. Instead of feeling insignificant, you feel awe and joy.

You enjoy watching the professor who is ‘directing’ (if one could even direct jazz music) the ensemble—it is so clear that he loves what he does. He dances around the stage, and provides extra energy and enthusiasm to the already energetic stage. When you had walked into the room before the concert started, you had been feeling tired, weak, and just wanted to sleep. Your brain had slowed down and stopped. But the jazz music brought energy and vitality back into your body and mind.

Several trumpets have solos in the next piece. It’s a slower piece, with a bit more of a feel of a slow-dance or something. A xylophone player impresses you with what seems to be a more difficult instrument than you would imagine.

You find yourself continuously in awe of the jazz ensemble, and laughing as the professor attempts to coax people onto the dance floor to slow dance to the ballad they are about to perform. As if anyone will get up and dance by themselves in front of everyone. The professor continues by describing the harmonic structure of the next piece: there are only 5 stanzas? Harmonies? Chords? Chords! It was chords.

You find yourself closing your eyes again, but this time picturing a jazz club in the heart of jazz country, in the heart of the jazz age (was that the 50s? 60s?). You visualize couples, women in flowing dresses dancing with young men in dress pants and tucked-in button-downs. You visualize mood lighting and a bar off to one side—though you’re not sure why there’s a bar in the image, as you don’t drink, and you’re attending a concert at a Christian school with a no-drinking policy. But it’s there, in your mental image. You are sitting in a booth in a dark corner in the back, observing the jazz b and playing, and watching the couples dancing. They all have smiles on their faces. You open your eyes.

The professor reminds the audience that all the soloists—any student that comes up and performs a solo in the middle of piece—is improvising their solo. You can’t help but recall all the things you’ve learned about jazz music growing up and be more in awe of the performers. As you muse upon this subject, a pianist has a solo that causes your jaw to drop. You can’t help but think “these people are incredible!”

The mental image of a jazz club is interrupted by a child’s scream, but slowly fades back into focus. A set of chills runs through you as you hear a saxophone soloist begin a slow ballad… your jazz club features a descent many dancing couples, young men having worked up the courage to ask attractive young women to dance a slow dance. You smile from your dark corner booth in the jazz club.

A trombone solo interrupts your train of thought. You can’t help but find those instruments powerful and impressive. The instruments display power and strength that make the wielder of such instruments a very formidable force. After this, most powerful trombone solo, comes three saxophonists. The saxophonists again stun you with their incredible talent. You hereby resign yourself to never pursuing a career in music (not that you were going to in the first place) because there is no way that you could be as talented as these people.

Jazz has a very unique way of telling its own story. It does not conform to many traditions of music: oftentimes its musicians make things up on the spot—improvise—or don’t follow traditional scales or formatting techniques. However, this does not make it less elegant, nor does it mean it tells no story. It tells many stories via tone, energy, even what little melody it contains works with the other elements to encourage a musical narrative. You were not expecting such an idea in this jazz concert, but you can’t help but find stories even in jazz music.

A jazz ensemble, for the reader, is composed primarily of brass instruments, such as trumpets, saxophones, trombones, French horns, and such. It also includes percussion instruments such as varying forms of drums, cymbals, and the like. This ensemble also contained a piano, a cello, and a xylophone. The instruments combined well to create an energetic, sophisticated, jazzy vibe to the Newton Hobson chapel.

The final pieces one the professor said was written by the band Chicago (?) and is performed as a jazz piece by the ensemble. You feel your foot tapping to the beat. The song has a great energy the percussion certainly looks like it’s having lots of fun. “Wait, is that an electric piano?” you think to yourself, as you gaze at what you think is an electric piano. “wow!” Your attention refocuses on the percussion as the two percussionists get solos and finally duel each other on stage. If you had been going to dance, it would’ve been to this song.

As the concert comes to an end, you feel fulfilled, happy to have come to an energetic and entertaining musical performance. Congratulations to Southern Wesleyan Universities Jazz Ensemble for performing such a fantastic concert!

All this and more is what you would have experienced if you attended Southern Wesleyan Universities Jazz Ensemble concert on March 20, 2018 in the Newton Hobson Chapel and Fine Arts Center. The concert hall was spacious, the lighting was perfect, and the relaxed atmosphere provided both by the style of music and the concert venue made for a very relaxing and entertaining night. It was certainly a performance that I would recommend to anyone—even those who are not a big fan of jazz music. As someone who is often not the biggest fan of jazz, I am always blown away by SWU’s Jazz Ensemble. Good job SWU, for putting on a fantastic performance yet again.