Sunday Jazz

A couple of days ago, the Ken Avery Combo Competition took place at the Chicago Sports Bar in Wellington, NZ. Five jazz bands from the jazz department of the New Zealand School of Music played two pieces each, from the jazz standards repertoire for a total prize pool of $2,000. The competition was set up in memory of Wellington "jazz legend" Ken Avery, who died in 1983, and it was judged by three "prominent jazz practitioners."

Pictures of American presidents

The Chicago Sports Bar provided a great atmosphere for the event. It has an American theme, with signs of American sports teams and presidents hanging from the walls, and it had good lighting for the performance, (probably partly due to the fact that it was an afternoon event).







The food also seemed pretty good - my conducting fellow (boyfriend, who is going to be a conductor) and I had planned to have dinner elsewhere in the evening so we just had an order of chips, plus some of the nibbles the Wellington Jazz Club had ordered for the event. Best bowl of fries I've had in a long time! Perfect thick-cut shape, and the potatoes had a fantastic texture.




As for the music - well, I don't listen to a lot of jazz (which is what attracted me to this event) but it was really excellent. The groups all had different styles and energy levels, but there was so much of both - that is, style and energy - it was really refreshing. The players were all able to show their own personality through their solos, and some did so with their outfits as well, with shiny silver suits, colorful neckties, or bandannas and other accessories. There were groups that did more slow, deep, and thoughtful numbers, and groups that kept the stage electric with energy and interaction between the players. Every group had a drummer and a double bassist, but the combos varied in the other instruments, some adding saxophones, guitar, piano, and/or trombone to the mix. There was even a group with a male vocalist, who did the popular song 'LOVE' by Nat King Cole.  (You know, the one that goes "L, is for the way you look at me").

During the interval while the judges deliberated, a trio played some more jazz just for our listening pleasure. The trio was made up of a double bassist, drummer, and keyboard player who was one of the Heads of School! It was great to see an old pro play with up-and-coming students, with seemingly no disparity in ability...or rather, jazz is a genre in which things have the ability to blend more naturally. Every player has turns at both accompanying and having solos, so no one is seriously hindered by the ability of others. Or in other words, even if the group is not ideal together in terms of ability, the best players still have a chance to shine in their own solo, but the less capable players still have a turn at soloing too. Not like a classical chamber ensemble where if you had a professor of music playing with students there would likely be a clear gap between their outputs. For one thing, the less experienced player, if a violinist, would probably automatically take second violin and therefore automatically have not as many solos as the first violinist.

The other thing that I found to be quite marvelous was that the winning group was asked to play again after the announcements, and they did, but the standard they were going to play had a piano part and their group didn't have a keyboard player. So, the call was sounded ("any keys players in the house?") and one of the judges came up to be the impromptu pianist. Again this is something I can't imagining happening in a string quartet situation: "hey, any violists in the house to come sightread the viola part for our semi-formal recital?" I think both the players and the audience at a classical event would frown upon that! 

And as expected, there weren't any other classical musicians from the university there, besides the two of us. When we go to symphony concerts we always run into classical musicians, but not many of them seem to step out into the realms of other genres, or do much musical exploration. 

Basically what I'm trying to say is that every genre of music has its merits, and it's good to explore outside your own sometimes to learn from what they have to offer.  There's always something new to be gained from going to a performance, and in any case I really enjoyed myself going to this one.  Maybe other musicians would enjoy going to see other events too. Plus, it's nice to go to an event that you don't have any subconscious (or conscious, even!) critical thoughts towards, because it's not what you specialize in.

I've written on my other personal blog about an experience with improvising, and more of my thoughts on the classical/jazz divide. 

The winning group, "The Chronicles of Greg Quintet"

 
Musicians out there, do you go to musical events other than those of your own genre? Do you enjoy other genres of music too, or do you only have time for your own?