Essay on live jazz

For the live jazz performance assignment, I went to see the Bobby Torres Ensemble at the Jones Theatre at Doggy Hall in Pullman. It was a gripping performance overall. The Pianist, Brian Ward, was in an excellent mood, and really seemed to put everything he had into the performance that night, along with Israel Annoh on drums. The bass, played by Victor Little, was very relaxed, and really calmed the mood on a number of occasions. John Nastos, on Saxophone, was also very calm, and contributed a great deal to the atmosphere. Julana Torres was on vocals, and was very enthusiastic and generally just brought everyone’s mood up. Dick Titterington was on trumpet, and Lars Campbell on trombone, and both also contributed to the fantastic performance. Bobby Torres, the band leader, had a lot of funny quips, and coordinated the band very well.
The performance lasted about two and a half hours overall. They played about 16 songs, including “ Black Pearl”, “ Black Tears”, “ The Caravan”, an interesting rendition of “ I Will Survive”, and “ Complication”. Brian Ward, the Pianist, composed most of them. Overall, I was very impressed with the selection; it seemed to fit the crowd well, and was well-received by the audience.
There were, however, a few drawbacks, particularly about the venue. The place was very crowded, for example. This probably had to do with the tickets being so cheap, which of course makes music more accessible, but also leads to overcrowding, particularly for such a genre. I still felt a little “ crowded out” from the performance, and attempting to get beverages took a very long time since they seemed to be understaffed. The lighting could have been better, too; it tended to only focus on the person doing a solo, instead of adding to the overall atmosphere of the band. I think more could have been done to make the venue a comfortable place to listen to jazz.
Overall, I liked the performance. I thought it was exciting from the very first song on. I liked that the band was so large and had so many different talents that they could work with in very different areas. Brian Ward, the pianist and the group’s composer, seemed in particular to have really given everything his all, and I thought that Bobby Torres was very amusing between the sets when he would give his few cents or transition to another song. I thought that, overall, all the band members were very good at projecting their good mood onto the audience, and that all gave a stellar performance. I would gladly recommend them to any of my friends. The only hesitations I have are about the venue. It seemed too crowded and impersonal. Even though I loved the performance anyway, I think it could have been exponentially better in a more relaxed and less crowded venue. Still, despite the drawbacks of the venue, the band gave a spectacular performance, and I really felt like I was drawn into it, even though I perhaps could have been more drawn into it in a different, more relaxed location. I would still gladly recommend this group to anyone looking to see live jazz, despite the venue; they really created an atmosphere that involved the audience with the music itself.