By Brandon Gardiner
ContributorOn Tuesday, April 19, Longwood's Department of Music held a concert, presenting the Longwood Wind Symphony and both Jazz Ensemble A and Jazz Ensemble B. Before the show had even begun, members of the audience were buzzing about how they had been looking forward to this show and how excited they were. Freshman audience member Kaitlyn Cumber said, "We have a couple friends in one of the Jazz Ensembles. We're pretty excited to see how they do." The audience mainly consisted of family members of those performing, Longwood faculty and staff, and some students.
The show started off with the Longwood Wind Symphony, conducted by Dr. Gordon Ring. The opening song was "Overture for Band, Op.24" by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy, orchestrated by Robert Garofalo. In the very beginning, the brass section felt a little weak. The key to the beginning of that particular song is supposed to be soft, but they may have started a little too soft, leaving some notes lost into others. Overall, the opening song sounded nervous.
As they moved onto the next song, "Cavatina 'Fac ut portem' from Stabat Mater," by Giochino Rossini and transcribed by Dr. Gordon Ring, you could tell that the symphony was getting a little more loose and confident. For this song, the Longwood Wind Symphony welcomed the winner of the 2011 Student Soloist Competition Christine Melendez to the stage to sing. Her performance took the song from good to great. The next two songs for the symphony were called, "Where Never Lark or Eagle Flew," by James Curnow and, "Courage of Winds," by Adrienne Albert, and - let it be said - this symphony was meant to perform American music. The first of the two songs was actually conducted by the winner of the 2011 Student Conductor Competition, H. B. Wilmouth, andhe did a very good job. As the symphony came to a close, the last song gradually ascended into a strong and powerful ending, leaving the crowd cheering wildly.
Next to perform was Jazz Ensemble B, conducted by Director Andrew Brock. Brock decided and announced that they were going to start off with what would have been the second song, "Absolutely Awesome" by Lennie Niehaus. "Absolutely Awesome" turned out to not be very "awesome" at all. Brock was hoping to liven up the mood with the song, but, like the Longwood Wind Symphony's first song, it almost sounded nervous. It seemed as though none of the performers really wanted to be there. Everyone was stiff and serious. When they moved onto, "You Snooze, You Lose" by Victor Lopez, their energy increased very slightly, and, accordingly, their next two songs were pretty good. Their last song, "Get It On" by Bill Chase, Terry Richards and arranged by Paul Jennings, was their best song and had the most energy out of the three. As far as stage presence goes, there is room for improvement for Jazz Ensemble B, but as for the music, they did a descent job and the audience was very pleased.
Finally, there was Jazz Ensemble A, conducted by Director Dr. Charles Kinzer. Even though, according to Dr. Kinzer, their guitar player was out sick, Ensemble A started and ended with an incredible amount of energy. Their first song, "Some Skunk Funk" by Randy Brecker and arranged by Mark Taylor, was a very good opening. The performers all looked like they were having fun, smiling, and moving with the music. It had everyone tapping their feet. Their next song, "Big Noise from Winnetka" by Bob Haggart, Ray Bauduc and arranged by Calvin Cluster, featured a sort of "combined solo" by the drummer and bassist which was unique, to say the least. The drummer put a beat onto the strings of the bass, while the bassist fingered the notes to create a single instrumental sound. Needless to say, the crowd cheered wildly. The next song played was called, "Skylark" by Hoagy Carmichael and arranged by Jerry Nowak. This song featured an amazing vocalist by the name of Octavia Moton. Moton, like Melendez, was also phenomenal. She brought with her a very strong, classic voice which made the song feel even more authentic and professional. The final song of the evening was called, "Soul Vaccination" by Emilio Castillo, Stephen Kupka, David Garibaldi and arranged by Paul Lavender. This song alone had a ton of energy to it, but to add even more was a very notable solo performance by a tenor sax player named Holly Phelps. Phelps' performance was outstanding and left the audience dumbfounded. Phelps commented after the concert was over, "We really hit the last song. I felt really good about the whole thing, but the last piece, everyone got really into it." Dr. Kinzer stated, "The band really pulled through. We were missing our guitar player who really adds a lot.The guys stepped in and did their job. I was totally pleased.
