Category — Music

To be perfectly and completely honest: I can’t stand jazz. I have always wanted an opportunity to learn about jazz, maybe even get into it, but after experiencing this concert I know it’s not for me. Every haphazard beat of the drums, every improvised piano solo, every note, made my heart palpitate. The quartet made me anxious. I felt like I was having mini heart attacks the whole night. It’s something about the way every instrument is playing at the same time and they go together but in such an odd way my blood just can’t beat normally. I hated it.

That being said, I’m so grateful I got the opportunity to experience it. Because despite the fact jazz puts my blood flow into irregular roller coasters of discomfort, I can appreciate it. Listening to each instrument on its own was a joy (except the drums, they were the main source of my distress). When I focused in on just the bass, just the sax, I got it. I understood the joy of each performer, the carefully practiced effortlessness that made them masters. It was only when I heard it all together that it sounded like a cacophony of fifty different beats and sounds.

More so than the music, I enjoyed the performers. There is no other way to describe them than cool. They were some cool cats. And they were one. They played in harmony (I didn’t feel that way but I could tell they were). Never was there a spot light on just one, and when there was, they each got to feel the light. You could feel the respect they had for each other, the love for the audience, the love in the audience. It was quite an experience. And although I hate jazz, I’m glad I actually had the chance to find that out, and I’m even more grateful that through my vehement reaction, I could still appreciate it.

The night of the Juliet Jazz Quartette was one night to remember. I was quite excited for this jazz event. Ever since I was a little girl I remember the sound of my father’s footsteps coming back from work. Upon arrival he would play his vintage jazz records that would set a soothing ambiance through out the house. He would such classics like Count Bassie, Charlie Parker and of course, the great Louie Armstrong. He used to get home late from work and so I was tucked in to the sound of these scratchy yet exquisite classics.

Surely, you can guess by my childhood that I would be more that just a little excited to attend this quartette. The experience was one like nothing other. I have never been to any jazz event before and my first surely did not disappoint. Once the performers came on stage a sort of nostalgic feeling overcame me. The performers were amazing, playing songs that brought me back to the early days of my adolescence.

Overall, this was an amazing and unforgettable opportunity.

I enjoy music, whether I’m listening to it or playing it, very much. I listen to many genres of music. However, my experience with Jazz has been limited to having a Jazz unit in my high school Music Survey class, where I listened to classical Jazz performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong. I don’t usually listen to the Jazz genre, but I thought that Tuesday’s performance would be a nice, refreshing experience. I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Firstly, everyone was so excited outside of Juilliard prior to the performance. When everyone was seated and the performance began, I liked that the musicians interacted with the audience, in a way. The saxophonist was so into his music that he began dancing, almost in place, during performances. The pianist’s hands flew effortlessly, weightlessly over the keys, in a way that I’ve always dreamed of doing. He was composed, and completely controlled, and yet completely at ease. The upright bassist seemed to really enjoy listening to every note that he played, while also communicating with the ever-engaging drummer.

I enjoyed the performance for a few reasons. I felt that each piece performed conveyed a story, and, being a musician myself, I definitely appreciated the fact that much of the music was improvisation, with some of it being based off of the original melody. Additionally, I enjoyed the variations in tempo of different pieces and the variations in tempo at different moments during each piece. I was relieved that my studies four years ago aided me in knowing when the appropriate time was to start clapping. Each piece differed from the next, and the music was unlike every other Jazz piece that I’ve heard in the past. It felt as if the audience was communicating with the musicians, and the musicians were answering in return. The musicians gave off the aura or complete comfort and mastery, which definitely allowed the performance to be an amazing way to spend the evening.

I had a great time on Tuesday night. The evening filled with Jazz music and great friends was definitely a great experience.  I look forward to having more, similar experiences in the future.

Journal Entry 9/18/2013

Four men in pressed suits walk onto a concentric stage of elegant symmetry. Each line, curve and shape is sharply defined through the concentrated illumination of a darkened auditorium. The severe downwards curve of the saxophone leading into its steep rise outwards, the bassist’s instrument towering tall above him, nearly dwarfing his figure–the starched, hard lines running down the saxophonist’s trousers to his leather shoes of a beautiful light brown.

These resolute qualities of shape and line, of visual stimuli within the ability of prediction, juxtapose quite fantastically with the improvised, directionless nature of the Juilliard Jazz Quartet’s numbers. Jazz is the seemingly seamless coalescence of cacophony and euphony, sounds that make you swoon and move in tandem with the rhythm and melodies, the crescendoes, the pauses, the sounds produced with but the finest finesse, captured with an even greater sense of delicacy. Music–it’s something incredible; even more, fundamentally human.

The Juilliard Jazz Quartet was spectacular on Tuesday.  Jazz isn’t a genre that I usually listen to, so I entered thinking it wouldn’t be all that good. Mannnnn, was  I wrong! The music they played was great and it totally flipped my idea of jazz.

When I was younger I always thought that jazz was alright but that it was for older folk and that it had no real relevance in our modern day. To me it was always a bunch cacophonous  sounds that only appealed to the older generation. After seeing this performance I realize that I was incorrect in thinking that because it has the ability to move anyone. I found myself tapping my feet and bobbing to the drums and watching each musician intently wondering what would happen next. Though I do listen to many genres of music, I never held jazz in a high regard, because it wasn’t something relevant to me. That changed afterward because I went home and searched up some more Thelonious Monk.

Another big part of the experience was the feeling that was conveyed through the sounds. Those feelings are one of the most important reasons I listen to music at all. Music is a story told through sound, and the beauty of it is that it can interpreted in so many ways and depending on how you interpret it, you can make that music your own in a way. The jazz that was played conveyed many different emotion. Some of them were very exciting and invigorating and I felt like jumping up and dancing, but others were calm and soothing and I felt like sleeping, in a good way.

The Quartet was off the chains and it was magnificent to watch them play such meaningful music.