Texas State Jazz Ensemble: Special Guess Steve Houghton- Music Critique
The Texas State Jazz ensemble, with special guest drummer Steve Houghton, was filled with an uplifting set list. A mixture of trumpets, drums, piano, saxophones, bass, guitar, and trombones played harmoniously with distinct soloist for each song. The Texas State Jazz ensemble did a wonderful job, especially their solo performers. Steve Houghton was also quite fantastic, living up to his name. The overall experience was very entertaining.
The Texas State Jazz ensemble was composed of very talented students. The solo performers wowed me at how talented they were. Unfortunately I was disappointed with some students when not playing music seemed very uninterested in the performers …show more content…
The pianist is followed by the ensemble playing a repetitive tone similar to the one that goes, “dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun-dun.” I found this very entertaining and fun. It was different from the soothing jazz tone, which was a nice change for the last song. The trumpets were more pronounced in this piece, instead of the saxophones.
As for the songs before the introduction of Steve Houghton, “Slide’s Derangement”, started with the entire ensemble playing a mellow toon. This later was followed by the saxophones playing a constant lower toon that went, “bum, bum (pause) bum, bum” This sort of repetition of notes personally sticks to my mind, because those notes in particular are hit higher than the others. “Slide’s Derangement” reminded me of the Great Gatsby. Reasoning being the smooth, but yet upbeat melody reminded me of a Gatsby party. Just by listening to the music, I was able to picture an actual party scene.
“But Beautiful” was my all-time favorite performance. It was so elegant and like the title proclaims, beautiful. The jazz ensemble did an amazing job performing this song. I could feel the composer of this song, Jimmy Van Heusen try to speak with just his music. The soloist on the trumpet played with heart, hitting higher pitches than those remaining within the
The Texas State Jazz ensemble, with special guest drummer Steve Houghton, was filled with an uplifting set list. A mixture of trumpets, drums, piano, saxophones, bass, guitar, and trombones played harmoniously with distinct soloist for each song. The Texas State Jazz ensemble did a wonderful job, especially their solo performers. Steve Houghton was also quite fantastic, living up to his name. The overall experience was very entertaining.
The Texas State Jazz ensemble was composed of very talented students. The solo performers wowed me at how talented they were. Unfortunately I was disappointed with some students when not playing music seemed very uninterested in the performers …show more content…
The pianist is followed by the ensemble playing a repetitive tone similar to the one that goes, “dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun-dun.” I found this very entertaining and fun. It was different from the soothing jazz tone, which was a nice change for the last song. The trumpets were more pronounced in this piece, instead of the saxophones.
As for the songs before the introduction of Steve Houghton, “Slide’s Derangement”, started with the entire ensemble playing a mellow toon. This later was followed by the saxophones playing a constant lower toon that went, “bum, bum (pause) bum, bum” This sort of repetition of notes personally sticks to my mind, because those notes in particular are hit higher than the others. “Slide’s Derangement” reminded me of the Great Gatsby. Reasoning being the smooth, but yet upbeat melody reminded me of a Gatsby party. Just by listening to the music, I was able to picture an actual party scene.
“But Beautiful” was my all-time favorite performance. It was so elegant and like the title proclaims, beautiful. The jazz ensemble did an amazing job performing this song. I could feel the composer of this song, Jimmy Van Heusen try to speak with just his music. The soloist on the trumpet played with heart, hitting higher pitches than those remaining within the