The members of the jazz band attached red clown noses to their faces, causing the audience to laugh. They then turned back to their instruments as the piano picked up a haunting melody which led into the song, “Send in the Clowns.”
“Magic Hour,” a jazz concert led by choral instructor, Max Mendez and band director, Terry Jones, kicked off with a collaboration of the vocal and instrumental jazz ensemble at North Idaho College. The smiles of the faces of audience and band members alike portrayed enjoyment and ease, overriding any visible tensions of a performance atmosphere.
The vocal jazz choir performed before the jazz band and covered songs from “Jazz Parade” to Unchain My Heart, including a variety of soloists along with a drum tempo, the only instrument involved during the Au Capella vocal performances.
Vocalist, Abby Tenney, 19, music major at North Idaho College was one of the soloists during the performance.
“It’s usually more nerve-wracking when you’re in a green room and you’re thinking about it… and you know you’re going to do it,” she said about practicing. “But once he (Mendez) points you out and says ‘Okay, it’s time to start,” it’s no big deal, it’s just all about the fun.”
Max Mendez enthusiastically led the choir in song, eventually bringing the performance to “Dizzy’s Itch,” which ended the vocal jazz performance with a bang, featuring a fast tempo that awoke the audience for final applause.
With the exit of the vocal assemble came the awakening of the instrumental portion of the stage where various trumpets, saxophones and trombones lie waiting to engulf the auditorium with wondrous sounds. Although, at first, the sounds were not quite wonderful.
The auditorium filled with the sounds of a random yet abstractly synchronized concoction of tuning and testing of instruments, followed applause aimed toward the inductive presence of the director of the ensemble, Terry Jones.
With no verbal introduction in site, they broke into the first piece, “Doozy,” featuring a sharp drum tempo, trumpet and piano solos and a saxophone solo.
“We just kind of play what comes to us, and every time, it’s different, and I like that aspect about jazz. It’s never the same. It’s unique every time,” said bass player Ryan Crandall, “And I like the expression, the spontaneity.
“It’s because he doesn’t have to play what’s on the page,” Terry Jones interjects. “He can play whatever he wants.
“Exactly. That’s kind of it, actually,” Crandall said.
“It is!” Jones exclaimed.
As the performance drew the night to a close, Jones finally introduced the band’s last song, “Struttin’ With Some Barbeque” with some background information about the title.
The Louis Armstrong song was written back in the day, before refrigeration, when employees working in the food industry had to split up what food was left at the end of the day. And it was generally the most appreciated employees who would get to take the barbeque. They would then get to strut home with the smell of the meat wafting behind them as a symbol of their importance.
After the song was over, and with the final bow, the performers exited the stage and left the audience in enthusiastic applause.
“There are so many different styles and so many different ways you can play jazz… It all has a structure, but you’re so free within the structure,” said audience member and Coeur d’ Alene resident Nadine Morasci. “It’s fun to listen to, because you never know what someone’s going to do or how it’s going to turn out.”
