The Big Band

Recently I attended an IUPUI jazz band concert. IUPUI has one of the hottest jazz bands in the city right now and can back it up with the credentials to prove it after having placed second in one of the toughest jazz band competitions in the country, Elmhurst, and coming out with seven Outstanding Soloist Awards (more than any other band there) and the Outstanding Ensemble award.

As I walked into the venue, The Indiana Historical Society by the canal, I was actually greeted in German by the woman who sold tickets due to my t-shirt of choice which proudly displays "Deutschland" on the front. I knew this was going to be good.

And I wasn't disappointed. The performance had many different styles of jazz ranging from samba to swing to even classical at times. In a typical jazz band there are usually 5 saxophones, 2 altos, 2 tenors, and a bari, 4 trombones, 4-5 trumpets, a piano, vibraphone (similar to a xylophone only jazzier), bass, and drums. The saxophones are the pizazz of the band. They have dynamic, soul-touching voices at the highest points in a song, the sorrowful croon in the blues and a mystique of intrigue in a "cool" jazz tune.

A featured song of the night was Pat Metheny's "The First Circle." For those musicians out there, or those who can count music, an average song is counted in 4/4 time (1-2-3-4) sometimes 3/4 for a jazz waltz (1-2-3) and even 5/4 for an edgy feel such as the theme to Mission Impossible (counted 1-2-3-1-2). This particular one had a time of 22/8 (or 10+12/8). The band had been working on this since November of last year and had decided now to make its debut. Most of the time, such songs that push some aspect of music theory to the edge tend to be a little...weird. Not so with this one. It was incredibly melodic and catchy and deserved its spot as the highlight of the show. Other (not quite as rhythmically tricky, but not exactly a walk in the park either) songs of note were "Dragonfly" (my other favorite), and "Passages."

I encourage anyone who loves music to experience a live jazz band (especially IUPUI) at least once in their life. Who knows, blog buddy, you may even like it.

The saxophone section of the jazz band.