The UCA Dixieland Band opened a jazz ensemble concert Tuesday with songs of Mardi Gras and New Orleans in the Snow Fine Arts Center. The group kicked things off with Paul Barbarin’s “Bourbon Street Parade,” decked out in Mardi Gras masks. Saxophone professor Jackie Lamar joined the group playing the soprano saxophone, and introduced each performance. Following “Bourbon Street Parade” were two songs about New Orleans, and finished with “Royal Garden Blues.” The group had solo performances from some of the musicians as well as singing performances from Lamar and senior clarinet Jake Gatlin. The Jazz Ensemble II group followed the Dixieland Band, with assistant professor of trumpet Larry Jones directing Sammy Nestico’s “Bashful Albert.” Immediately after this was “On Green Dolphin Street” from Keeper and Washington, followed by Dee Barton’s “Consonata.” The group’s final song was “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,” which featured a guitar solo from senior Davis Norton. Norton said the concert was incredible despite the band having a rough start this semester due to changes in personnel, in part due to help from Jones. “Sometimes it takes a minute for everyone in the band to click and start playing together, instead of next to each other,” Norton said. “But the last couple of weeks, we had some really good moments in rehearsal where everything would fall into place.” Everything fell in place just in time for the ensemble, which Norton said might be one of the favorites of his career. “All the soloists sounded great; the band was tight,” Norton said. “I couldn't have asked for a better performance.” The last group to perform was Jazz Ensemble I, with assistant professor of tuba and euphonium Gail Robertson directing songs like “Time After Time” and “Hunting Wabbits.” The group featured multiple solos, including a soprano saxophone performance from sophomore Justin Mason. Robertson said the solos performers are chosen for any number of reasons, including instrument-specific pieces and lack of certain players for the band. The band consists of students of all kinds of age ranges, and Robertson said students don’t have to be music majors to join, as is the case with the group’s drummer. Robertson said the band had to hustle to learn their full performance because of how soon it took place after the semester started, and they did well despite a smaller audience. “The audience was not as big as I’d hoped, maybe because it was on a Tuesday,” Robertson said. The band will simply have to counter this by choosing different times to perform, Robertson said, as along with the typical audience of family members, they would like for more community members to get involved.
Members of University of Central Arkansas Jazz Bands performing at the Snow Fine Arts Center during the Feb. 13 Jazz Ensemble.
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