Eyes closed, shaking his head back and forth, Evan Groover finishes his saxophone solo and admires the playing of fellow ensemble member, guitarist Anthony McIntosh.
Musicians put every piece of their heart and soul into their music. By watching them play, one can tell they feel it down to the core. They’re moving their feet, hips, everything; soaking up the euphonious sounds.
Imagine an emotion so intense, no words can describe it. Imagine that emotion filling you up, taking over your entire being. This is what musicians feel when they connect with music.
Here at the UW, jazz ensembles allow for students to express themselves through music. These ensembles are small groups comprised of three or more musicians, most featuring the drums, piano, guitar, bass, and saxophone.
Jazz Innovations is a yearly concert performed by these ensembles that features student-composed or arranged music. They emphasize individual performers through solos, but the groups connect with each other as well.
Each member nodded along when the piano player’s fingers took off, closing their eyes with satisfaction when a complicated combination of notes was played perfectly.
When asked if they played anything other than jazz music, they all laughed.
“Jazz is in every genre,” McIntosh said. “You can appreciate other genres through jazz.”
From their performance, it was evident how much time and effort they put into their playing.
“Music is all I think about,” Groover said.
There are numerous styles of jazz music, including swing, classic, blues, and ragtime. Each style has its own unique qualities, but they all share one thing: improvisation.
Jazz is freedom. In most pieces, the composers leave sections for particular instruments to make up melodies, dynamics, and rhythms, which gives the players a chance to insert their own style into each performance.
“You [can] express yourself through musical language,” Groover said. “I have so many ideas, I gotta let ’em out.”
Born in New Orleans in the late 19th century, jazz was a combination of African rhythms, feelings, expression, and European instruments and harmonies. Taking ideas both old and new, the style of jazz was created.
It is said that jazz was crafted out of the African-American culture in the southern states, dating back before the Civil War when slaves would play and sing music, which was part of the assimilation between African and European music styles that created jazz.
Louis Armstrong, arguably the most influential jazz musician of all time, was essential to jazz’s rising popularity in the early 1900s. He recorded countless jazz albums, composed over 50 jazz pieces, and was recognized across the globe. He was featured on television, radio, and 10 of his singles were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, including “What a Wonderful World,” which topped the charts in many countries.
Armstrong, known as the “father of jazz,” is remembered for shaping the genre of jazz, as well as aspects of American culture. Armstrong’s influence and success shows how widespread jazz is as a genre. He translated his own jazz style into a cultural phenomenon.
The UW jazz program aims for innovation, learning from existing styles, and creating new ones. Through collaboration between renowned faculty and student musicians, many jazz studies graduates and alumni have won prestigious awards. Current graduate student Carmen Rothwell, a bass player, was named Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2014 Golden Ear Awards.
Student ensembles at the UW allow talented individuals to explore their own creativity, and draw on ideas from the past to create new styles and sounds. That’s what jazz is about — piecing new and old styles together.
Students are given the chance to collaborate and communicate with other gifted student-musicians and world-class faculty to grow both in and outside of music. These ensembles are a part of how the UW allows students to take their lives into their own hands and create their own images.
Reach contributing writer Liz Cusanelli at development@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @liz_cusanelli
