CSC Jazz Ensembles perform at their final spring concert

Roughly 50 people filled Memorial Hall’s Auditorium Tuesday evening to watch the Jazz Band and Vocal Jazz perform. The evening started off with the seven members of the ensemble checking the microphones while off stage, before walking on stage in order to greet the audience with smiles as the lights dimmed.
Launching the evening was Johnny Mercer’s and Jerome Kern’s “Dearly Beloved,” arranged by Paris Rutherford and Jacob Voorhis, senior of Fort Valley, Virginia, played a guitar solo during the opening act.
After the opening act, Katelyn Lambert, sophomore of Scottsbluff, welcomed the audience to the performance and gave credit to the opening act before introducing the next song, “The Best is Yet to Come/It Ain’t Necessarily So” by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, arranged by Sharon Broadley.
The seven performers stood in a semi-circle at the center of the stage. Leslie Hopton, junior of Sundance, Wyoming, stood out, wearing a red dress while the other six were on either side of her, three to each, all in dark grey or black dress attire.
The tone of the performance changed for the third song, “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds and arranged by Kerry Marsh with a solo by Lambert, which was a bit slower and smoother than its two predecessors.
Overall, though, the song that the Vocal Jazz seemed to like the most and that felt the liveliest was “Tenor Madness” by Sonny Rollins and Waldo King, arranged by Kirk Marcy. The other four songs from the evening were accompanied by the drums, guitar, bass guitar, and piano, but Michael Stephens, associate music professor, played a solo on the tenor saxophone for this final song.
There was a short intermission at about 7:30 p.m. between the Vocal Jazz and Jazz Band which gave the band time to set up.
Once the band was ready to go, Kallie Bush, junior of Kimball, launched the Jazz Band portion of the concert with a solo on the baritone saxophone during the song, “Moanin’” by Charles Mingus, arranged by Sy Johnson.
After the opening song for the Jazz Band, Stephens introduced the ensemble and the songs, with a little bit of trivia here and there about some of the songs.
After the second song, “Corner Pocket,” by Freddie Green, Stephens gave a farewell to seniors Joe Cline and Daniel Espinosa, as it was the last performance they would do with the ensemble since they will be graduating in May.
Stephens introduced the third song by saying that this author, Gordon Goodwin, was one of their favorite writers – some members in the band nodded to that statement. The really upbeat and moving tune, “Picture IV,” featured solos by Will Reiter, freshmen of Bellwood, on piano, Allen Kissack, senior of Chadron, on trombone, Patrick Cassidy, junior of Scottsbluff, with the guitar, and Jack Royals, senior of Rapid City, South Dakota, on the drums.
Throughout the entire performance, there was a lot of movement from the band in general as they swayed and moved along with the tune.
Prior to “Bags’ Groove” by Milt Jackson, arranged by John Clayton, Stephens mentioned that there was one member of the band that wasn’t able to be there. Bryony Trump, junior of Sterling, Colorado, was injured earlier in the semester in a car accident. He said she was recovering nicely and he was sure she would want to be there, but because of that incident, she couldn’t perform with the band on Tuesday.
After their final song, the audience rewarded the ensemble with a lot of applause as well as a few whistles and some “woo-hoos!” at the end. Stephens thanked the audience for coming again and called for another round of applause for the Vocal Jazz before wishing the members in the crowd a goodnight and to walk home safely.