Jazz ensembles do not lose opportunities despite weather and road conditions

The CSC Vocal Jazz Ensemble and CSC Jazz Band performed their respective sets from last week’s 43rd University of Northern Colorado Jazz Festival in Greely, Colo.

The Vocal Jazz Ensemble is conducted by Joel Schreuder, and contains 10 singers and a four piece instrumental combo. They sang at the UNC Jazz Fest on Thursday last week, but narrowly made it to the stage.

Poor road conditions and a semi-truck accident Thursday morning slowed southbound traffic to a stop on Interstate 25, just outside Cheyenne, Wyo.  The delay in travel put the ensemble woefully behind schedule.

“It was like a parking lot, nothing was moving.” Sandy Schaefer, the combo’s drummer said Tuesday afternoon.  After several phone calls the group finally contacted a festival adjudicator who rescheduled their set for later in the afternoon, affording them the opportunity to still perform and get important feedback from the festival judges.

The ensemble also attended a concert Thursday night headlined by Grammy award-winning Christian Vocal Jazz group “Take Six.”  The concert opened with the UNC vocal Jazz group, followed by contemporary vocal jazz quartet, “Vertical Voices.”

The poor weather delayed two Take Six members’ flights, but Vertical Voices stepped up and filled in, entertaining the audience for more than an hour before Take Six took the stage.

The weather cleared up by the weekend, and the 21-piece CSC Jazz Band conducted by Michael Stephens left for Greely Saturday morning and played the festival that afternoon.

“It’s always a great for us to attend the UNC Jazz Fest,” Stephens said Tuesday, “We get valuable comments from top-notch judges, and it really energizes the students to see the other performances.”

The Vocal Jazz set included six songs of a wide variety; one song was even an arrangement based on a song from a musical. Most pieces included a solo from a member of the group.

The Jazz Band played a set of six songs that included numbers from hit musicians such as Duke Ellington and Thad Jones.

In addition to performing their set, the band attended the festival’s closing concert, “A tribute to Dizzy Gillespie” featuring special guests Jon Faddis, Greg Gisbert, and Terrell Stafford, backed by the UNC Jazz Lab I band, and Jazz Pianist Cyrus Chestnut.

“It was a really awesome opportunity to go to the festival.” Kaleb Britton, senior and drummer of Rapid City, S.D. said.  “There were some really masterful musicians performing, which was pretty inspiring.”