October 24, 2014
Anticipation was the air. The musicians tuned their instruments while the audience took their seats. I looked down at the band from the balcony, eagerly awaiting their set as I listened to the final words of introduction. The return of the Jazz All-Stars was one of the highlights of Fallcoming for many members of the Hamilton community. As the band played the first notes, the Filius Events Barn was immediately transformed into a jazz café in Harlem. The lights were dim, the audience submerged in music; we were all drowning in it. Toes started to tap and fingers started to snap. As the song progressed, the energy continued to rise. I had a view of the whole barn from my perch in the balcony; the musicians, the audience, the stragglers coming down the stairs, and every one of them entranced by the music.
The concert on Friday, October 10 featured guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, pianist Dick Hyman, drummer Winard Harper, bassist Jay Leonhart, trombonist Greg McCrea and trumpet-player Randy Sandke, as well as Hamilton Professor Monk Rowe and Hamilton’s own baritone saxaphone player Deanna Nappi ’15. Their musicianship and talent are truly “world class,” and the joy they played with is contagious. The first set included standards such as “Take the A Train” and “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be,” but the highlight of my night was their arrangement of “Blackbird” by Paul McCartney/John Lennon. This song is easily identified by the opening guitar solo, but Hyman and Leonhart did an exceptional job with translating it into a jazz arrangement for bass and piano. They made “Blackbird” their own while simultaneously maintaining the original integrity and of beauty of the song.
After the concert I had the opportunity to speak with Deanna Nappi ’15 and ask her a few questions about the experience of playing at the Jazz All-Stars concert.
Q: What does it feel like to play with some of the best jazz musicians in the world?
A: Honestly, it’s hard to put into words. It’s very intimidating, but after rehearsing with them I realized that they’re just very cool people. They encouraged me to play out and solo. When it came to the performance, it was more of just being nervous to perform, not being nervous because I was playing with them.
Q: Have you noticed any changes in your playing between this year and last year when you performed with this group?
A: This year I was definitely more comfortable and confident than before so I felt like I was taking more tasteful risks and I became a more actwive member of the group than I was last year.
Q: Do you hope to do this again in the future or expand it to more students?
A: If it was an option to come back and play I absolutely would. It was such an inspirational feeling and experience playing with them because they just love music so much and you come away with their energy and passion for it.
Q: What was the set list? What was your favorite song?
A: Well, it was thrown together about 30 minutes before we performed, and we didn’t even rehearse some of the songs. It was spontaneous within the performance; they would just call out a tune. My favorite tune was “Lester Leaps In,” it’s just a simple lick over rhythm changes, and I learned it right before we played it. It was a pretty simple song so we were all able to solo over it and go back and forth and it was just super fun to play.
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