Shelbie Harris
News Editor
Life is like jazz music: its best to improvise, it never resolves and sometimes, when things get chaotic, you get the feeling everything is spiraling out of control around you and then suddenly you’re somehow able to reel it all back together into something wildly impressive.
When it comes to producing superior jazz music, finding balance between what sounds good and what feels good can be quite cumbersome. Making use of improvisation, polyrhythms and syncopation to create an original art form indigenous to America, jazz music in the 21st century is as popular to some as it was over a century ago.
One such enthusiast includes Jonathan Armstrong, the new director of jazz studies at ISU who has pumped new life into the program with his fierce creativity and extensive professional experience.
“My goal as a professor, especially designing this jazz program, is I want the kids to fail,” Armstrong said. “I want the kids to fall down, skin their knee and maybe lose a tooth, musically.”
The Jazz program features three different bands: The ISU Combo, a sextet group; Jazz Chamber Ensemble, a mixture of traditional and non-traditional jazz instruments; and ISU Big Band, a combination of saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a four-piece rhythm section.
Armstrong heavily stresses the importance of students learning the skills required to improvising successfully.
“[Improvisation] is terrifying,” said Jamie Burtosky the Bassist for ISU Big Band. “It’s the only kind of music you play that is 100 percent you. It’s terrifying in a fun way because it makes you put yourself out there and try things you never would have thought of before.”
Some musicians in the jazz program have had little to no experience playing jazz music, but Armstrong wasn’t about to go easy on his pupils by choosing a simple set list for their first performance of the fall 2015 semester, which took place Oct. 30 in the Jensen Grand Concert Hall in the Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Titled, “Jazz Music from Around the World,” the performance featured a traditional Turkish and Macedonian piece, a theme song to a video game, “Battle Block Theater Theme,” and two originals; one by Armstrong titled “Flamingo Mating Dance,” and another by tenor saxophonist, Douglas Withrow, titled, “Yesterday’s Lunch.”
“I was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I just started singing this tune in my head,” said Withrow. “I brought it to rehearsal one week, we decided we liked it so we made a few changes and it became a tune.”
The performance by Armstrong’s students was electrifying, featuring a dynamic mixture of mellow harmonies, earthy grooves and speedy, hard-hitting rhythms.
Many students had their own solo performances, which put their improvisation lessons, rehearsals and countless hours of practice to the test. If you missed the last performance, be sure to catch this group with its upcoming show Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at Portneuf Valley Brewery.
“With [Improvisation] it’s entirely what you’re feeling in that exact moment,” said Jack de Tombe, Pianist for the ISU Big Band and Jazz Sextet. “Only in improvisation can you find that ultimate freedom.”
