By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
Improvisational jazz music is not for everyone, especially young musicians learning their craft. But it is challenging and rewarding for the youth who make up the St. Cecilia Music Center’s Youth Jazz Ensembles — including several local players from East Kentwood High School.
The public can get a reward of their own this weekend as those young players will be on stage at St. Cecilia during the center’s Youth Jazz Ensembles Concert, a free, public event scheduled for Sunday, May 19, at 7 p.m.
Both the small Jazz Combo group and the Jazz Band big band will be on stage, and both will showcase the developing talent of their young players.
“The combo format has a lot of potential for learning because every aspect of musicianship is involved: sight-reading, learning by ear, music theory (chord structures, keys, form), improvisation, arranging,” Robin Connell, St. Cecilia Jazz Combo director and local musician, said in an email to WKTV. “The big band music is all written and presents challenging reading for most students. They also work on blend, balance, intonation, and style.”
While the combo format focuses more on the traditional improvisational aspects of jazz, Connell said the big band is more structured but has “improvised parts (that) are only for a selected few instruments within an arrangement that is otherwise all written out.”
The current Jazz Combo has five members, Connell said: piano, bass, drums, saxophone and two trombones.
“The combo learns jazz standards and, in the process, learns a lot about music and jazz,” Connell said. “They learn the tunes from a ‘lead sheet’ (melody and chord symbols without any intro/ending or arrangement). Then we put an arrangement together. We start the year with me giving all the direction but, by the end, I’ve encouraged them to take over the leadership and direction as they are able.”
The combo members range in age from 12 to 16 (four are in middle school), and they will play four tunes: “Listen Here” by Eddie Harris, “Moanin’ ” by Bobby Timmons, “Artherdoc Blues” by Jimmy Heath, and “So What” by Miles Davis.
The Jazz Band, directed by Paul Brewer, has the standard instrumentation, Connell said: five saxophones, four trombones, four trumpets, with piano, bass and drums — “But I will be playing piano with the band because he doesn’t have a student pianist.”
The Jazz Band are all high school kids, with half a dozen from East Kentwood high. Their program will be published pieces arranged for this instrumentation, but specifics are not known at this time.
The St Cecilia Music Center is located at 24 Ransom NE, Grand Rapids. For more information visit the event’s Facebook page here.
