The University of Connecticut Jazz Combos took to von der Mehden Recital Hall on Sunday, Nov. 2, for an afternoon performance featuring jazz groups filled with UConn students.
A unique aspect of these jazz combos is their small scale in contrast to UConn’s 20-piece Jazz Ensemble. There were five groups that featured seven players each. All groups had a rhythm section with a drummer, upright bassist and guitarist. Aside from that, each contained a variety of different instrumentalists.
Two groups could count on UConn’s inaugural vocal jazz majors, to carry harmonies and improvise solos. Another group was a trio of saxophone players jamming with each other. One group included pianist Sebastian Rodriguez dishing out some chords when needed.
According to director Steve Bulmer, five combos is a far cry from the two he had when the program first started five years ago.
The jazz combos program is supposed to “take people who may or may not have ever performed together before and take basically a very vague framework of music and turn it into a polished performance piece,” according to Balmer.
The first group to perform was Maybe Later, which could rely on the saxophone trio of Carlos Delgado, Jack Tobin and Victor Simancas, who play the alto, tenor and baritone respectively, to drive the melody of the three pieces they played.
The three saxophonists had amazing chemistry playing with each other, as they harmonized for the Bossa Nova intro of their first piece “Blue Bossa,” and as Tobin and Delgado did a fun back-and-forth with each other on “Chameleon.” Guitarist Patrick Le Febvre deftly moved up and down the fret board while playing some great solos and funky chords on “Chameleon.”
Circle of Fifths were next up, and an interesting crinkle in their group was the presence of UConn’s second vocal jazz major, Isabella Kulawik. The inclusion of a vocalist to the combo added a whole new dimension to performances, as she could also sing lyrics.
This new dimension was showcased in Circle of Fifth’s first piece, “This Can’t Be Love.” It felt like the band transported back to the 1930s as they began playing, and the bright trumpet stabs accentuated the buoyant lyrics.
After the group’s performance, Bulmer shared some more words about how each combo came up with its arrangements. He said each group had a “skeleton of a sheet with some melody and chords [and] flesh that out into a full arrangement.”
When coming up with solos, first-semester jazz studies major and tenor saxophonist player Daniel Planas explained that “as an improviser we look at changes and say, ‘Oh, what sounds good in these [chord] changes?’” Having played jazz gigs since he was 11 years old, Planas has had plenty of experience in coming up with solos.
On the topic of playing with a jazz vocalist, Planas said one challenge was changing keys to match with the vocalist. As a saxophone player, he would need to change how the notes sound as he played, compared to a bassist or guitarist who move up or down a fret.
The next band to play was Post-Bop Stress Disorder, who won Bulmer’s award for most creative combo name, and it played some bops too. PBSD concluded each of its pieces wonderfully. It would start with a big band intro and afterwards, every individual would perform a solo then drop out, with bassist Mercury Goulet and Drummer Ohm Soni the only ones standing. Then everyone came back to harmonize for a bombastic outro.
After a brief intermission, Robin’s Nest stepped onto the stage. Robin’s Nest had the distinction of relying on fifth-semester communications and inaugural vocal jazz major Hazel Allik to carry melodies. As a vocalist, Allik said “I kind of act as another horn in a lot of charts, so we’ll do arrangements of four-part harmonies, which is cool.”
Allik also laid out some reasoning for the pieces Robin’s Nest played on stage. For example, “A Day in Vienna” was performed by the band because it could do a three-part harmony and for its Latin groove.
“If I Should Lose You” was suggested by the band’s tenor saxophonist Noah Lafond. Allik liked the melody on it and added lyrics that paint a picture of all the disasters that would happen if the singer lost somebody.
The last piece “Lament,” was added as a change of pace from the other two pieces, a somber ballad that Allik learned to play the piano for.
Allik said that arranging a song is a balance of not overwhelming the listener and serving the song but also making it interesting to listen to and incorporating everyone.
The last group of the afternoon was “Big Jazz,” which was the only group that featured a jazz pianist in Rodriguez. A standout part of its performance was a nice R&B opening to its second piece “Daahoud” and the exemplary playing of baritone saxophonist Ciara Garcia, who got a chance to shine on her own. Trumpeter Michael Rentz also added a mute to the end of his trumpet to create a unique horn sound to add a new flavor to the group’s compositions.
Note: Isabella Kulawik is an Associate Managing Editor at The Daily Campus.