The J-TAC

Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Ashley Fuquay Tuesday was the jazz ensembles' last concert of the semester.

Jazz was not the only thing that came out of the Clyde H. Wells Fine Art Center Theater Tuesday. Laughs, applause and general outbursts were never too far between at the jazz ensembles' last concert of the semester.

The first group was Ensemble II directed by Cara Pollard, first playing Another Excuse to Play the Blues by Ken Harris. It had a very big band sound. Wyland Glover had a very strong solo on guitar. The drum solo by Clint Cox was also well done. The group ended strong.

The next piece Ensemble II played was Daylie's Double written by Oliver Nelson. It was a fun piece in which Pollard encouraged the audience to snap their fingers to the beat. An impressive tenor saxophone solo was played by Raphiel Jones.

The next piece the group played, Someone to Watch Over Me by George and Ira Gershwin, was P.J. Ramirez's debut on bass. The piece featured the new interim director of jazz studies, Cody Knott on trombone. The piece had a very high brassy sound. Knott had a very clear sound without being overbearing of his band mates.

After that the group played Carnival by Pete Lenyel. This piece had a fun, mambo beat. It was fun and easy to listen to. Kevin Saunders' trombone solo did not sound very confident and was hard to hear. Kate Riner, however, blew out and great trumpet solo. Both Jones and lead sax Chris Gaitan had very strong solos.

Ensemble II then played What's Going On by Marvin Gay. This song featured Chris Gaitan on saxophone.

The last song they played was the classic big band favorite In the Mood arranged by Glenn Miller. It was directed by Knott. The group had a very clear, confident sound on this piece.

Then Ensemble I organized themselves on stage and played Without a Song by Vincent Youmans, arranged by Rick Stitzel. The style was very smooth and dynamics were strong. Sarah Wnek needed more volume on her solo and her sound could have been cleaner. The saxophone soli was quite impressive. It seemed like there may have been quite a bit of practice that went into that part. Kevin Saunders' trumpet solo was well done and the guitar solo by Tyler Stobaugh was very easy on the ears.

The next piece played by this group was Swee' Pea by Bill Holman. This piece was a great example of some nice lazy jazz. Besides the incident in which a few musicians blew themselves out of tune on the crescendo, this was a very enjoyable piece. There was a very nice solo by Eric Camarillo of trombone and the jazz piano part could have melted in ones mouth. The group then played another piece by Bill Homan entitled Ticker.

Cupid's Nightmare, the next piece played, by Don Redman was written the 1940's and had a very period sound.

After this director Greg Ball surprised the audience by inviting up his father Richard Ball to play xylophone and his son David Ball to play drums. The three generation of Ball men were accompanied by Arturo Villegas on bass and Jacob Riddick on piano. He explained to the audience that he always likes to play with his father when he comes into town.

"Since I am the director and can do what I want, my son David Ball is going to come up here and play with us," Ball said.

The group also played Senorita Blues by Les Hooper, Hunting Wabbits by Gordon Goodwin and Moanin' by Charles Mingus, arranged by Sy Johnson.

Ball announced that March 27 would be the date for this year's Jazz Festival, in which student musicians from various secondary schools come to compete. He also announced that the Wind Ensemble would be performing their Christmas Concert at 7:30 p.m. on December 1 in the theater.

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