Jazz Band demonstrates skill, energy, and the power to heal
Kris Miranda
Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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"Jazz heals!" promised a General Announcement for the Jazz Band's spring concert. "Wouldn't that be nice?" I thought with a throbbing headache. I'd later regret my skepticism.
Kicking off the night was not the band itself, but Kathleen Fallon '10, a little lady with big talent who was in Eric Thomas' Jazz Improvisation JanPlan. Accompanied by Ben Bernstein '10 on piano, Fallon infused the melancholy standard "Black Coffee" with impressive fullness of tone and pinpoint octave-jumping accuracy. Thomas, in his ninth year at Colby, noted afterward that those who'd been following his career that long could notice how "the soul has increased here"; Fallon and Bernstein brought a smoldering quality to an ensemble usually identified with a more in-your-face punch.
After a pair of parallel anecdotes about odd things getting stuck in instruments, the band dove into one of the most diverse programs I've witnessed at any Colby performance. From disco ("Gonna Fly Now" from "a little known movie called Rocky"-quipped Thomas-featuring "high, screaming trumpet" work from Richard Gadway, not a student but still a fixture of the band) to funk ("It's a well-known scientific fact that you have to follow disco with funk") to blues (Phil Wilson's "Basically Blues," one of multiple pieces heavily featuring local high schooler Henry Redman with a tenor sax solo). Also prominent through the night but especially on the ballad "Loverman" was alto saxophonist Daniel Herrick '08, his sound full of care and control.
Prefacing "Badda Bing Badda Bang," one of the more striking pieces, Thomas declared composer Denis DiBlasio guilty of "one of a saxophonist's cardinal sins: he's written saxophone notes for the entire band. I didn't tell them how hard it was," he added with something between pride and sadism. "They just went home and played it." The trombones in particular seemed to truly relish the opportunity to demonstrate that they can be rapid-fire with the best of 'em. Another standout piece, earlier in the night, was Chick Corea's "Spain," which spiked the energy in the audience whenever Thomas prompted everyone to start clapping with the beat for a few measures at a time.
Kicking off the night was not the band itself, but Kathleen Fallon '10, a little lady with big talent who was in Eric Thomas' Jazz Improvisation JanPlan. Accompanied by Ben Bernstein '10 on piano, Fallon infused the melancholy standard "Black Coffee" with impressive fullness of tone and pinpoint octave-jumping accuracy. Thomas, in his ninth year at Colby, noted afterward that those who'd been following his career that long could notice how "the soul has increased here"; Fallon and Bernstein brought a smoldering quality to an ensemble usually identified with a more in-your-face punch.
After a pair of parallel anecdotes about odd things getting stuck in instruments, the band dove into one of the most diverse programs I've witnessed at any Colby performance. From disco ("Gonna Fly Now" from "a little known movie called Rocky"-quipped Thomas-featuring "high, screaming trumpet" work from Richard Gadway, not a student but still a fixture of the band) to funk ("It's a well-known scientific fact that you have to follow disco with funk") to blues (Phil Wilson's "Basically Blues," one of multiple pieces heavily featuring local high schooler Henry Redman with a tenor sax solo). Also prominent through the night but especially on the ballad "Loverman" was alto saxophonist Daniel Herrick '08, his sound full of care and control.
Prefacing "Badda Bing Badda Bang," one of the more striking pieces, Thomas declared composer Denis DiBlasio guilty of "one of a saxophonist's cardinal sins: he's written saxophone notes for the entire band. I didn't tell them how hard it was," he added with something between pride and sadism. "They just went home and played it." The trombones in particular seemed to truly relish the opportunity to demonstrate that they can be rapid-fire with the best of 'em. Another standout piece, earlier in the night, was Chick Corea's "Spain," which spiked the energy in the audience whenever Thomas prompted everyone to start clapping with the beat for a few measures at a time.
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