Writing a concert review: tips and directions for music assessment

Concert Review

The Philadelphia Inquirer warned that Asphalt Orchestra is "not your mother's marching band" (www.asphaltorchestra.com). Those who entered Keene State College's Redfern Arts Center on the evening of October 5, 2011, were in for a surprise if they had hoped to hear "Louie, Louie" or other high school halftime standards. From the opening notes, it was clear Asphalt Orchestra was on stage to bring innovative musical entertainment to an enthusiastic and mostly college-aged crowd.

Asphalt Orchestra is a 12-member ensemble of brass, woodwind and percussion players. All are excellent musicians who can coax weird and wonderful melodies and sounds from their respective instruments. The musicians hail from diverse backgrounds, including rock, jazz and classical, and come together in a street band that has no contemporary rival. The band made its debut over a series of performances at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in New York over the summers of 2009 and 2010. Since then, they have performed throughout the United States and Canada with a repertoire that includes music from Scandinavian pop sensation Bjork, jazz legend Charles Mingus, rock innovator Frank Zappa, and the Swedish metal band Meshuggah as well as new pieces written for the band by such notables as Yoko Ono and Talking Heads' David Byrne. It takes a uniquely talented group of performers to take such diverse material and bring to it their own style and sound, but Asphalt Orchestra does so in their own spectacular, inimitable way.

The band's self-titled album, released last year, is available through iTunes. Tracks such as "Hyper-Ballad" let band members show off their considerable jazz chops, while "Electric Red" lets the listener hear some of the growls and squeaks that punctuate much of their live shows. As good as the album is, Asphalt Orchestra is best experienced live. It is the music, obviously, that is the focus of the show, but the audience is entertained by the antics of the band as well.

Keene State is located in a small New Hampshire city that is the cultural hub of the region. The college has a strong music education program. Concerts at the Redfern are usually sold out; Asphalt Orchestra was no exception. The College manages to book solid talent and offer tickets at reasonable prices. Pre-concert advertising promised that the performance would be edgy and fun. The audience anticipated an exciting show and they received the opening sounds with enthusiastic cheers and applause. The young and young-at-heart audience members were thrilled with the performance, which held everyone spellbound until its conclusion. The musicians demonstrated their skills with melodies, harmonies and rhythms. They featured musical conversations and storytelling, using bleats, squeaks and other sounds from their instruments in amusing ways.