The Chart Online

Jazz Bands pack auditorium for fall concert
Philip Martin

Sports Editor

The Southern Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra has the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow, following the Nov. 12 concert.

Joel Griffin, senior music performance major, played a solo on all but two songs during the Jazz Ensemble s part of the performance.

There s a lot of young kids in that band, Griffin said. I was asked to perform with them because of a shortage of players.

He said, being an experienced player, he was able to sit in the solo chair, playing tenor sax. Griffin said he did solo quite a bit.

Griffin was featured on Avalon, Surrey (With the Fringe on Top) and I ve Got the World on a String.

Robert Terry, on the stand-up bass, and Ashley Turner, playing alto sax, was also featured on I ve Got the World on the String. Turner and Michael Thompson, playing trumpet, were featured on the final song by the ensemble, Dat Dere.

Dr. Jeff Macomber, director of the Jazz Ensemble, said he was looking for a dirty, bluesy song for the band to play and decided Dat Dere was the one. The concert was also Macomber s 50th birthday. During the orchestra s part of the concert, Dr. Phillip C. Wise had the entire audience sing Happy Birthday to Macomber.

Macomber said having the audience sing to him made him feel like he was 50 years old. He said he wasn t expecting Wise to do it, but he said he wasn t surprised that everyone knew, because my wife knows how to use e-mail.

He thought the highlight of the ensemble s part of the concert was the ending of Avalon. The band didn t know how the song was going to end. Macomber thought the concert was a success.

I think it is a testimony to the kind of students that come to this institution and the hard work they put forth, he said. The opportunity that we can provide here at Missouri Southern to participate in music everybody should do it.

The concert was the first one for Macomber. He said he expected the concert to go well. He said the band came together and jelled at the right moments to pull off the concert. Macomber said the concert was a nice way to celebrate a milestone birthday.

John Magoffin, senior secondary education and German major, said the concert was amazing. He said he tries to come to as many concerts as possible.

I never listened to a lot of jazz when I was younger, Magoffin said. But, I m here and we have one of the best bands that I ve heard. To sit here and listen to these guys do the things that they do, especially in a setting like this where a lot of people come and listen, it gives me goose bumps.

He said he knows many of the band s members and comes in part to support them and to listen to the band.

In the orchestra s part of the concert, the group played a funk song which is rare. The song, titled Mixolydian Soul Frog, featured Griffin on soprano sax, Jason Manley on trombone, Ben Peterson on the electric bass, Joel Thomas on the synthesized keyboard and David Nash on the electric guitar. Nash said the highlight of the concert was him cranking it up and giving the crowd what they wanted.

Wise said he thinks the highlight of the concert musically was Mixolydian Soul Frog.

It was something that was just completely different than what we have normally done, Wise said. I think it was something the audience has never heard this band do before. I think they were rather struck with that.

Magoffin said the song was cool, I wish they would do more of that.

Wise said the reason he decided to perform the song was because he bought the music while teaching at a high school in Iowa and never performed the song. So he decided to pull it out of his file cabinet to let the rhythm section stretch out.

Wise said another highlight of the orchestra was Aaron Scriven s fluglehorn solo on Someone to Watch Over Me. He said it was a nice Gershwin song and that everybody knew the tune.

One of the staples of the Jazz Orchestra is playing a Count Basie tune. Wise said the orchestra played a quintessential Count Basie tune, Plain Brown Wrapper. He said one of the reasons he decided to play a Count Basie tune is because he believes Count Basie was the standard big band. Count Basie was on the road for 50 years.

In my mind, the Count Basie band was the most important historically, Wise said. Duke Ellington s band was also important, but that was a different style altogether.