It was the first time for many students, and even a director, when they paraded onto the stage with their brass, wind and stringed instruments in tow at the Buchanan Center Concert Hall.
Opening up the concert was the Jazz II band directed by Scott Meredith. This was Meredith’s first time directing the Jazz II band since Professor Scott Turpen, who usually teaches Jazz II, is on sabbatical. Normally, Assistant Professor Meredith teaches Jazz Techniques and Jazz History at the university and is also in charge of teaching all applied lessons for trumpet.
“Because of a sabbatical replacement, I was able to jump on this great opportunity,” said Meredith. “My first job was a public school band director. My favorite part is that I get to work with talented, eager young musicians to produce an artistic product that we can be proud to present to an engaged audience. When we achieve success everybody wins!”
As the Jazz II musicians finished up and walked off stage, professor and director Ben Markley and the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble took their spots on the stage. Markley said there were a lot of first time students joining in or playing instruments they have not traditionally preformed. Each player continues to become more comfortable with each practice and performance, he said.
“I was very pleased with our Wyoming Jazz Ensemble performance,” said Markley. “We played a lot of tough music and the band worked hard to meet the challenge. Each section had several difficult passages to tackle. They worked diligently in sectionals to make their parts fit in smoothly with the ensemble.”
There were many soloist performances by a multitude of the ensemble showing off the individual talent and instrumentation in each piece. Each student had their own motivation for why they chose to be in the Ensemble.
“I decided to join the jazz ensemble because even though I’m a music education major I want to be a performer when I get out of school and go into grad school for further education,” said Max Marquis, a Sophomore who is an Alto Saxophone. “I thought we played better than we ever have and it came together tonight. It was tight and the band was playing like an ensemble and performing some awesome music. Jazz is not dead.”
