Wed 9 May – DVC Night Jazz Band, Jazz Ensemble w/ special guest Guitarist Grant Geissman

I attended the concert on May 9th, 2007 at 8 PM at the DVC Performing Arts Center. The DVC Jazz Ensemble and DVC Night Jazz Band were performing with special guest artist, Grant Geissman. The music consisted of a variety of jazz styles including swing, straight ahead, Latin, soul and blues. Both groups were forms of big bands with a woodwind section, trumpet section, trombone section and a rhythm section of piano, guitar, bass and drums. Grant Geissman performed with the bands on a few songs, playing guitar and adding vocals.

The DVC Jazz Ensemble had a pretty good performance with many high points and a few mediocre points. The songs choices were a good variety and were performed well and were quite entertaining. I really enjoyed the bass solo by Scott Colberg during Booke Ends, though the rest of the band seemed like it was not completely warmed up yet and they all seemed very stiff. The band remained pretty stiff until Geissman finally came out to perform, where they seemed to loosen up and enjoy themselves more. Kevin Grant and his bass trombone were entertaining throughout the shows, especially when he got to solo. Say That was a very good piece by Geissman and really showed off his guitar ability. The actual music backing for [track artist=I've Got News For You]I’ve Got News For You was enjoyable, but Geissman’s vocals were lacking and he is a much better guitarist then vocalist. The Samba Del Gringo was a very good closing piece, with fantastic conga playing by Chris Carrasco. Though the song seemed to go on too long and the band seemed to get bored with and sounded sloppy, but that could’ve just been my imagination.

I was very much surprised in the difference between the Ensemble and the Night Jazz Band, not only in performers, but style of playing and how comfortable the Night Jazz Band seemed in comparison to the Ensemble. I was also really surprised to see Jeff Thompson and Amber McCurry make reappearances in the Night Jazz Band, but their talent with their instruments fit the rest of the band. The opening song was great, really swinging, lots of energy, a lot of which came from T Moran, who was probably my favorite instrumentalist of the night. He really kept everything going on the drums. The second song, Cape Breton, was my least favorite of the night. It seemed too long and drawn out and Rolf Johnson’s flugelhorn playing was only decent and got tiring after awhile. I loved the section solos of Count Bubba’s Revenge, especially when the trombones got to solo and there was more bass trombone sounds in it. Geissman’s guitar playing felt more appropriate with this band then with the ensemble, as they seemed to mesh more on style. The extra long version of the Two and a Half Men theme was interesting to listen to, but not all that entertaining. It felt too much like a loose jam session, something I’m not personally a fan of. I enjoyed seeing the stripped down nature of “Dig Some Sides” with just the rhythm section, Geissman and Rory Snyder on the alto saxophone. It felt more intimate then the rest of the night and the solos of both artists were phenomenal. The final sound was a very good closure for the concert and a much better ending for the Night Jazz Band then what the Ensemble got with their samba.

Overall the concert was very enjoyable. I’d attend another one by the Night Jazz Band for sure and it would be a plus if it were the Ensemble, but I don’t know if I’d like to see them alone again. It was definitely a nice experience to see jazz music played live for the first time, making my appreciation of it a little bit higher.