MC Jazz Band swings through the decades
By Cara Pridemore
The Mississippi College Jazz Band will perform their annual Jazz Band Concert in the Entergy Theatre of the Gore Arts Complex on November 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets are free for MC students and $10 for the public. Directed by Wayne Linehan, a retired member of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the band will cover the history of jazz.
“From 1914 to 1940, we’re doing chronologically music in that order, hitting every kind of section of jazz,” said Duval Salvant, MC’s Director of Bands and bass trombone player for the concert.
The Jazz Band’s standard spring concert will pick up from the ’40s and continue into modern styles of jazz. This theme fits into the school’s larger one of their bicentennial anniversary celebration, as the Jazz band will celebrate the history of MC through music.
The concert will begin with hot jazz, which originated from the bands of the Roaring ’20s and move into the sing era of the 1930s. A highlight from that section will be “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” written in 1937 by Eddie Durham.
Photo credit: Special to The Clinton Courier. Pictured in a concert from a previous season, the MC Jazz Band will perform on November 18 at 7 p.m. The public is invited.
“There’s a lot of eighth note runs and stuff that jumps around, so it’s just difficult to learn, but it’s super fun,” said Hannah Rushing, a sophomore trumpet player in the Jazz Band. “We have a running joke that it has some good character development, because when we started playing, it was not that good, but now it sounds really amazing.”
The concert will conclude with bebop of the ’40s, which marked a new form of jazz, in which everything is done twice as fast a tempo.
“We’re doing a piece called ‘Cherokee;’ it’s known as the first piece that is done in bebop style,” Salvant said. “It was written by Ray Noble in 1938.”
The program will also feature singer Chris Atkinson, as well as clarinet, trumpet and flute solos.
“Mr. Linehan did a great job of choosing charts in chronological order of history, with there being a good mix of fast songs, slow songs, and everything in between,” Salvant said. “It gives the audience a bit of a break from listening to the same style over and over again. It gives the players a bit of a break from not playing the same thing or same stylings over and over again.”
Because the band has never performed any of the songs before, preparations have been extensive. Since the first week of school, there have been hour and a half rehearsals every Tuesday and Thursday.
“We get in, and he [Mr. Linehan] will read off the set list,” said Rushing, who is also a mellophone player for MC’s marching band. “Especially now that we know what we’re playing, we just go through, and we play it all.”
For musicians like Rushing, practices have been completely different than regular band practices, as jazz styles are more intricate and complex. All the musicians must ensure their part fits perfectly into the larger piece.
“It’s a different animal when you’re having to sit down and just read down charts [music sheets] and swing everything or not swing the notes, or you’re not playing the melody anymore,” Salvant said. “You’re playing a harmony line or the chords or the bass and all that stuff that people aren’t always used to doing in a marching band or concert band or orchestra.”
Rushing says the commitment has been worth it.
“This year in college, it’s really grown my confidence, and I know I’m better at sight reading; but I also just feel like such a better musician because of Jazz Band,” said Rushing, telling how she’s mastered new skills, such as the trumpet shake, in which she shakes the trumpet to jump back and forth between two notes.
“Come support students, come support music and just enjoy an evening,” Salvant said. “We have fun; we get some good knowledge out there, good education, and just create good music like it. Have a good education, and have good music. It’s as simple as that.”
