The audience erupted in applause as the musicians took their places on the Light Recital Hall stage Nov. 12. As they quieted in anticipation, the Jazz II ensemble opened their energetic show with a lively Brazilian Samba. The rest of the night featured a variety of upbeat jazz highlighting the fusion of funk and Latin influences.
“This set of pieces was different from past sets because it was less swing-based jazz and more Latin-fusion-based,” lead trumpet Noah Brockway said of the uniqueness of the concert. “I think my favorite piece would have to be the opening piece, Samba Ti Kaye. The shout section was super fun, and Cal crushed his solo on it.”
Kierstyn Torres, a senior in the ensemble who plays several instruments including most often french horn and piano, expressed her excitement at getting to play and perform Latin inspired jazz.
“This was something that our director, Brad Townsend, had talked about last year and wanted to do this semester so I’m glad we were able to incorporate it a little bit,” Torres said. “I really love the music we played in this concert. It’s not all Latin music but we do have a little bit more of a Latin focus this time around.”
This selection of music that the Jazz II ensemble prepared for this concert helped the musicians grow their knowledge and appreciation for the genre as they practiced.
“The solo structure and chord changes are different than I am typically used to, but I learned a lot from them this semester and this music,” Brockway said.
“I love the riffs and the unique rhythms you can have in Latin music. So that was a really cool element of this performance,” Torres said.
The ensemble has been practicing this selection of songs since the beginning of the school year. Auditions for the two jazz ensembles take place during the first few weeks of September. Musicians are then placed into either ensemble based on their skill and the ensemble’s needs.
“Both Jazz I and Jazz II are big ensembles so they have a full saxophone section, trombones, trumpets, a full rhythm section,” Torres said about what being a part of the ensemble is like. “It’s a lot of big band tunes. So you’re gonna get a lot of what we call reading the ink. You do have certain solo sections where people will take solos but it’s a lot more structured.”
The student musicians at UW-Whitewater all share a great admiration for their art form. Most of them have been playing for most of their lives. Brockway is an instrumental music education major and a junior this year. Brockway hopes that in the future he is able to share his passion for all music, but especially Jazz, with his future students.
“One of my future goals as a music educator is creating a successful jazz program,” said Brockway. “I joined the jazz program here because it was a tremendous experience for me in high school. I played in the top state honors jazz ensemble my junior and senior year of high school back in Illinois and wanted to continue growing and learning here at UW-W.”
Jazz is also an important genre to Torres, who is working to get her BA in music with a creative writing minor and three certificates including one in jazz. Like Brockway, she has been playing in jazz bands and ensembles since high school and even before.
“I love jazz. I’ve loved jazz pretty much forever. My band program started in middle school, and we had a middle school jazz band and that was my first introduction to actually getting to play jazz,” Torres said. “It was really cool because I got to play it on my french horn. Which you don’t traditionally see a lot of in jazz, although I did play horn in a couple of the songs we performed for this concert. That was my first introduction to really playing it a lot but I always loved listening to it, I always thought it was a lot of fun.”
“Jazz is a very powerful genre of music in many different facets,” Brockway said of his admiration for the genre. “Among other genres, it has the most opportunity for expression and walks the line of standard ensemble play and individuality. I have always felt a great emotional connection to jazz, more specifically blues and big band, just being very soulful and engaging. I could probably write a whole book on this, but that sums it up best.”
