Live Jazz Music Performed

Part 1

On November 17, my boyfriend and I had a chance to attend the concert of live jazz music, which was held at the Neme Gastro Bar in Miami, Florida. This venue is an unique place where people come to relax and listen to highly quality live music. The concert started at 7 pm and finished at 9 pm. The concert was performed by Jazz Duo consisting of Eriberto Rey (Electric Guitar) and Aldo Salvent (tenor sax). During the concert, I ate delicious appetizers while enjoying beautiful music. The band performed eight compositions, which had different rhythm, melody and tempo but were equally great and euphonious and became an amazing experience to me.

Part 2

Since the very beginning of the concert, I realized that the musicians are genuine professionals and appreciators of jazz, because their compositions reflected the variety of tempo, tone, rhythm and comping. It should be noted that jazz is a unique type of music, which requires from the performance to know and feel how the composition should be built. Moreover, the piece should have specific structure in order to include improvisation and solos. Also, I believe that combination of guitar and saxophone, which were the only instruments used in the concert, remarkably delivered a genuine spirit of jazz compositions. The first composition, performed by the duo, was a jazz ballad with slow tempo and swing rhythm, which is highly typical for jazz music. The introduction was performed by guitar, which used effect units in order to deliver various types of timbre. The saxophone performance included slow and smooth music, which was performed in “andante,” and guitar party was accompanying saxophone by short and loud musical strokes. In the middle of the composition, the tempo of guitar and saxophone equaled, and they performed the main musical theme of the composition. By the end of the piece, I noted a significant example of successful comping. That is, saxophone was improvising, while guitar supported this improvisation with background music in swing rhythm. Without doubt, it was highly professional demonstration that showed the mastery of musicians.

The next two compositions were performed in slow tempo and shuffle rhythm and included a lot of improvisation played by guitar and saxophone. It is interesting to note that tempo in both compositions varied from “moderato” to “adagio.” Thus, these pieces also sounded as jazz ballads. Also, the guitarist often used effect units, which created the effect of polyphony, even though there was used only one musical instrument. The second composition performed joyful musical motif and was saturated with jumps between different musical registers. Meanwhile, the guitar was used as drums following vivid shuffle rhythm. The third composition started with improvisation performed by saxophone. Within this part, I noted certain rhythmic freedom since there were variations including swing and shuffle rhythms. I guess that the sounding could be described as high pitch, because all the notes were from high register. Furthermore, due to the fact that third composition included a lot of improvisation, the patterns of comping were vividly notable. In the third composition, the guitar performed a euphonious solo in “ad libitum.” To be exact, the tempo varied during the solo and has been adjusted to the comping performed by saxophone. Listening to these compositions made me to realize that jazz is a highly diversified musical style, which could create significant polyphony and sounding using only two instruments.

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After intermission, the musicians informed the public that the next two pieces were inspired by the musical style of classic rock ‘n’ roll, performed by Elvis Presley. Personally, I was greatly excited to listen to such jazz. Thus, naturally, the fourth and fifth compositions had fast tempo, I assume it was “allegro” and “alla breve,” together with repetitive rhythm patterns. Another key thing I remembered that the joint performance of guitar and saxophone in “allegro” created significant harmony and sounding. Even though it is seemed to me that the fourth composition was extremely fast, the sound, which emanated from the saxophones significantly coincided with tempo of guitar creating fast but repetitive musical theme, which was easy to follow and enjoy. The fourth composition reminded me the song of Presley “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog.” The fifth composition used two kinds of effect units for guitar and highlighted the sounding of a saxophone. The solo composition also included high and low pitch notes, which were accompanied by the rhythmic beat performed by guitar. As I stated above, the compositions did not have steady and constant beat since were performed in “alla breve.” However, this minimal beat emphasized the tempo without distracting me from the main musical theme. In my opinion, these two compositions reflected the variation of jazz called bebop. I noted that in many moments, there was certain asynchrony between performances of guitar and saxophone. However, this asynchrony was tasteful and emphasized the harmony of the compositions. Such musical approach is typical for bebop. Yet, the musician added low-pitched notes, which enriched the harmony and polyphonic image of the compositions. Thus, it is possible to say that this composition reflected a unique approach that unites bebop and rock ‘n’ roll.

The last three compositions could be characterized by moderate tempo, random and progressive rhythms, synchronic performance of guitar and sax, and euphonious melody. The sixth composition was performed in “andantino” with shuffle and random rhythm made by guitar. Interestingly, this composition almost lacked comping but rather reflected musical dialogue between guitar and sax. In addition, the main theme and melody were performed by saxophone with minimal beat. Having said that, the composition lacked using effect units, which only emphasized the contribution of the saxophone to the overall harmony. It was difficult to follow the rhythm but composition had pleasant and peaceful sounding. The seventh composition started with improvisation using low and high pitched sounding, although, the rhythm was progressive and changing. While in the first part of the improvisation, the performance of guitar synchronized with saxophone in terms of tempo and pitch, the second part of improvisation delivered pleasantly sounding pitch asynchrony. The tempo of the composition was moderate, with minimal inclusions of “allegro.” The synchronized comping of saxophone was notable at the end of the composition. The last piece was highly harmonious and performed in typical swing tempo. There were no jumps between the musical register and the tempo was smooth and moderate. It is possible to say that performance of guitar and saxophone in this composition was significantly synchronized. It created remarkable and euphonious polyphonic harmony due to the use of effect units by guitar. The piece ended in major scale with joint conclusive sounding performed by guitar and sax. With this in mind, I believe that these compositions comprised logical and pleasant ending of the concert.

Part 3

Without any doubts, the concert of live jazz music performed by Jazz Duo consisting of Eriberto Rey (Electric Guitar) and Aldo Salvent (tenor sax) became an amazing musical experience to me. I enjoyed listening to various compositions, which had different tempo, rhythm, harmony, pitch, etc., but were remarkably pleasant and euphonious. Honestly, I have never considered myself a great appreciator of jazz music. I believed that there could not be better performance of jazz than one delivered by Gillespie and Armstrong. This concert opened my eyes on the beauty of live jazz music. All things considered, I realized that every form of jazz is something unique and vary depending on the mastery of the musicians. I did not expect something amazing to happen during the concert. Yet, I was greatly impressed by the performance of Jazz Duo and acknowledged to myself that their performance was not less amazing and professional than performance of Gillespie and Armstrong. Thus, I believe that all compositions played by the band deserve to be admired. Obviously, I have my own musical preferences; thus, the fourth and the fifth compositions seemed unusual for me in terms of classic jazz and bebop. However, the innovations, added by the band, made each piece unique in some way.

During the concert, I had an opportunity to observe the public. I noted that there were people of different age and they all were listening attentively to the music, which emanated from the scene. In the past, I attended various concerts of live music, including jazz. During these concerts, people were screaming or actively discussing the performance of the musicians. However, this time was something special. During the performance, I was not able to find people who were talking or distracted. Perhaps, I was the only one distracted the most while observing the audience. I do not know the reasons for such increased attention to the performance. I could only assume that the musicians and their performance sounded as amazing to people as it was for me. Thus, exemplary behavior of the audience became the most unusual thing for me. I agree with my boyfriend who stated that this concert delivered a remarkable experience. Perhaps, it is because the musicians seemed highly devoted to the performance and tried to deliver the music with soul. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to attend such amazing concert of live jazz music. In the future, I will try to attend such events even more often.