Having attending few Jazz concerts, I was personally very excited to witness UBC Jazz ensemble concert, which took place on the 28th of March. This concert was primarily led by a soloist called Chad Makela, a well known Baritone saxophonist who has toured around Canada and United States to demonstrate his incredible talent. His distinguished quartet was the highlight of the concert for its distinctively unique melody and vividness.
One thing that stood out to me as consistent throughout the whole concert was the drummer’s consistent rhythm and the Cello player’s control of the tempo throughout all of the pieces, alongside the contrasting flow between the pianist and the trombones players.
The first piece, know by the name Tiptoe, is focused on a bouncy bop melody, that is oriented in a very organized, danceable, exhilarating articulations, and abrupt soli for trombones, bass, drums, and piano. Solos were granted to trumpet, drums, and piano, followed by a powerful expressive high-pitched verse that requires full-group synchrony. First, it starts with closely rhythmic melody but almost on the edge of sounding chaotic or diverged from one another. Suddenly after, almost all the chaos disappears and find a beautiful homophonic rhythm to follow with the trumpet leading the solo. Cello was constantly keeping a looping background base in which the trumpet solo fits within its range. Otherwise, it maintains a moderate pace, and slows down during transitions or modulations.
In Celebration Suite part 2, called Slow Dance, Chad Makela delivered his most memorable saxophone solo. He was supported by the other brass players with whom he played a three minute perfect homophonic composition. His solo performance was astonishing in many aspects from his ability to vividly strike the audience’s diverse reception of swapping, alternating, and thrilling pitches to his incredible talent to equally perform in sync with, and with the support of, trombones, trumpet, and piano. Hence, the back trumpets set a new key for the soloist to follow., which essentially sounded to me like it acts as a thematic transition between verses.
In part 3 of the same composition, named Remembering, the pianist opened the song with a very slow and gloomy solo, which was distinctively opposite to what the earlier parts of this piece which were more fast paced and bright. Swinging melodic flow held between the pianist and the ensemble, alternating back and forth on the same triple meter but on different keys to create the contrast in the conversation-like piece.
Overall, this concert rekindled my appreciation for jazz music and gave me a profound appreciation for its players, especially with the medium tempo rhythm throughout the piece that generates the mental imaging of tiptoeing. This concert rejuvenated all the vital factors, that made me become a jazz fan in the first place. It has melody that left me reminiscing about the tune of the song all day. It has harmony, that delineates the melody sound fully, which made me realize how hard it must be and the amount of talent it requires to perform a complex piece of art with multiple instruments all relying on well-timed synchrony with one another.