Spring Break
Student Ensemble Warms Cold Night With Hot Jazz
Nick Hennessey
Issue date: 1/26/07 Section: Focus
The quintet proved able to adapt themselves to the various terrains of Jazz. They swung whimsically through Blue Mitchell's "Fungii Mama," garnished by Santaceroce's rim taps. Santaceroce, on this song and others, played with an accent that writhed with diffidence and ironically strengthened the song's fundamental groove.
Beecher and Wise united on the next and final song, Winton Kelly's "Kelly Blue." Their notes layered on top of the eerie double string bass plucks accented by resolute ride hits. "Kelly Blue," lasted for twenty minutes and allowed each member his fair amount of time in the limelight. As Wise took center stage, he quivered with energy as his fingers crept along notes at a Coltrane-worthy pace.
"I couldn't tell if the saxophonist was on another level than the band or if the band was on another level than the saxophonist," said Matt Nucci, a 4th-Semester Neurobiology major. "But it doesn't matter, that's what jazz is all aboutÂ-expression."
At the conclusion of the song, Knox told the crowd, "Enjoy your night, enjoy your life, listen to jazz."
After the show, Campoliuta responded to a remark about the conveyance of Thelonious Monk's melodies in his playing in an aptly erudite fashion. "I had a Monk phase," he said, cooly relaying the fact that it was a completely subconscious insertion. "If you know the idiom, it'll probably come out in your playing."
Beecher noted the fact that the musicians hadn't even received the songs' chord progressions until earlier that day, which necessitates an improvisational approach like Campoliuta's. All the musicians listen to jazz regularly because, as Santaceroce put it, "you have to."
Beecher and Wise united on the next and final song, Winton Kelly's "Kelly Blue." Their notes layered on top of the eerie double string bass plucks accented by resolute ride hits. "Kelly Blue," lasted for twenty minutes and allowed each member his fair amount of time in the limelight. As Wise took center stage, he quivered with energy as his fingers crept along notes at a Coltrane-worthy pace.
"I couldn't tell if the saxophonist was on another level than the band or if the band was on another level than the saxophonist," said Matt Nucci, a 4th-Semester Neurobiology major. "But it doesn't matter, that's what jazz is all aboutÂ-expression."
At the conclusion of the song, Knox told the crowd, "Enjoy your night, enjoy your life, listen to jazz."
After the show, Campoliuta responded to a remark about the conveyance of Thelonious Monk's melodies in his playing in an aptly erudite fashion. "I had a Monk phase," he said, cooly relaying the fact that it was a completely subconscious insertion. "If you know the idiom, it'll probably come out in your playing."
Beecher noted the fact that the musicians hadn't even received the songs' chord progressions until earlier that day, which necessitates an improvisational approach like Campoliuta's. All the musicians listen to jazz regularly because, as Santaceroce put it, "you have to."
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