Bruce Kirkpatrick

10/17/14
Concert Report 1
I attended the Heller and Walton Jazz Combo performances on Monday,
October 13th in the Old Main Auditorium. The Heller group featured a violin
and tuba along with a standard range of jazz instruments (drums, trumpet,
alto saxophone, guitar, and piano). The Walton group featured two tenor
saxophones, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, guitar, bass, and drums.
Dru Hellers group started their set with the John Scofield tune Over
Big Top, which begins with a repeated riff from the guitar and is shortly
joined by the drums in homorhythm. This tune was cued out of this rhythmic
riff during the solos through nonverbal communication between the soloist
and the rhythm section. Usually, the soloist would make a small gesture
(a glance, or slight turn of the head) in the direction of the other players
and they would continue into the next set of changes. The lead-out for this
tune was a Dru Heller solo, demonstrating the vast change in the role of
instruments in the rhythm section from their exclusively metronomic preSwing Era function to their present-day soloistic capabilities. In their rest
of their set, this group featured a Joe Pass guitar solo transcription, a tune,
Colorful Day, written by their trumpet player (Eric Levine), and the Roy
Hargrove composition Strasbourg-St. Denis, which features an arranged
call-and-response between the trumpet and the alto saxophone, a reminder
of the traditional African music that influenced early jazz.
After a brief intermission, Heath Waltons group held a Wayne Shorter
night, with all but one of their tunes coming from the vast collection of
Shorter compositions. They began with Hammer Head, which features a
highly syncopated rhythm. In the solo section of Hammer Head, the vibraphone took the usual role of the piano and comped behind each soloist.
Masaki Kleinkopf (trombone), was the nonverbal leader of the group, cueing
to return to the melody, or head, during the last solo by gesturing towards
his head. After two more Shorter charts, one of which featured Zach Ritchie
utilizing brushes on the drum set in place of the usual sticks, along with an
interesting introduction in which one of the tenor saxophones played successively with the trumpet, other tenor saxophone, and trombone in soli-style
block chords, the group deviated from their all-Shorter set and played John
Coltranes Blue Train. Trumpeter Mike Garavel played a highly melodic,
Lester Young-style solo that featured repeated notes and dissonance. During
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saxophonist Julian Stevens solo, Mike and Masaki provided an accompanying all-brass background riff. Masakis solo went in to double-time for a
chorus, making for an interesting passage before the return of the melody.
To close their set, the Walton combo performed the classic Shorter composition Witch Hunt. It began with an extremely fast introduction, played
by the horns with intensity. It relaxes into a medium groove and features
a melody composed almost entirely in arpeggiated fourths. The band went
into a call-and-response with the vibraphone, and travelled through several
choruses of solos before launching into recapitulation of the theme.
The Heller and Walton combos were both high-quality jazz performance
groups. Drus group was especially unique to me in its utilization of the
tuba in place of a string bass; Brian Kemble did a tremendous job walking
the changes on a brass instrument for an entire set. Their performance of
Strasbourg-St. Denis was outstanding Im a huge Roy Hargrove fan. I
really enjoyed Heaths groups replacement of the piano with a vibraphone,
and their soloists (particularly Mike Garavel and Masaki Kleinkopf) were excellent. Ill be sure to attend more Thompson Jazz Studies program concerts.

Word count: 591

Heller Combo Walton Combo

Nicolas Kileen
Julian Stevens
Eric Levine
Mike Garavel
Ben Sevy
Juan Montoya
Pearce Littler
Masaki Kleinkopf
Harry Trump
Ed Breazeale
Trevor Villwock Elliot Sugerman
Brian Kemble
Trevor Jargon
Dru Heller
Zach Ritchie

Proof of attendance: Heller group mid-performance.