Jazz concert review

Jazz Concert

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012, I walked into the Paul Harris Theater in the Alta Ham Fine Arts Building at the University of Las Vegas. Tonight was a master recital, delivered by students in fulfillment of a Master of Music in Performance Degree. Because the recital was students performing, I did not know what to expect. Soon, I would be surprised at the quality of playing that I heard on the stage. The recital consisted of a group of five musicians. On guitar was Josh Williams. On vibraphone was Daniel Alameda. On bass was Jeff Davis. On piano was Otto Ehling, and the headline musician was Stephen Shapiro on drums. Reading the program for the evening, I noticed that Shapiro composed one of the songs being performed that night. I was already impressed even before the lights dimmed.

When the lights dimmed, there was no fanfare. The band immediately went into their rendition of Matt Dennis's "Angel Eyes." The song starts with the piano only, and then the standup bass comes in nicely. The steady bass line keeps the listener interested in the song. Using brushes on the drums, the musicians create a mellow song but one in which all the instruments are featured. At times, the song languishes, but the band played it with enough skill and energy to keep the audience engaged.

Second, we heard Stephen Shapiro's original composition called "Forever Falling." This was of course a way to showcase the composer's drum skills. However, the piece did also incorporate other instruments including parts for piano and bass. The other musicians added accents without distracting from the drumming. After Shapiro's song, the band played Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood." This was a slow song, and I did not think it was the best choice because of that. However, many people in the audience seemed familiar with it. It was a piano-focused song and had brush drums and a soft bass line.

After the somewhat sad song "In a Sentimental Mood," the band played a song by Thelonius Monk called "Well, You Needn't." This was by far my favorite song of the evening. It was upbeat. The walking bass line was lively, and so was the piano. A fun piece, it showed how talented the musicians are. The piano was the most prominent instrument in this piece, which shows how the piano can be both melody and percussion at different points in the same song. I really appreciated the piano in this song, which feels almost improvised even though there was some discernable structure. It made me realize how difficult jazz is to play well.

The next song on the list was Herbie Hancock's "One Finger Soup." After what came before, this piece felt more like progressive jazz. It was upbeat, with lots of piano but also more guitar in this one than the previous song. The walking bass line proved to be very catchy, and some audience members snapped their fingers. Finally, the band wrapped up the concert with another Thelonius Monk song called "In Walked Bud." This song was melodic. I could practically hear someone singing during the performance, it had so much melody built into the structure.