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Two years ago, professor Theresa Chen’s work took her to a conference in New Orleans. As she walked the streets, wandering through the French Quarter and meandering down Bourbon Street, she recalled the brass bands she met on every street corner, with their rich, groovy sounds. That’s when she had an idea — she would bring New Orleans to Syracuse.

“That was the most unforgettable trip I’ve ever had … I was surrounded by jazz all day long,” Chen said. “It gave me the idea to bring a jazz concert here for Black History Month, to spread the good things that the past jazz musicians have done to contribute to this evolution.”

On Tuesday night, the Setnor School of Music presented its first Mardi Gras Celebration Concert featuring performances from the Orange Juice Jazz Octet, Jazz/Funk Combo and the History of Jazz Class. Directed by Chen, the jazz concert was divided into four separate sections — Creoles, Ragtime, Dixieland and Ensemble Parade Medley — appearing as a historical anthology of jazz music in the United States to outline the evolution of jazz.

Chen said the way she devised the program was similar to a time machine — much of contemporary and commercial music is rooted in jazz, she said. Chen added how she wanted the program to provide the context for the present by giving her students lessons in the past.

Chen brought up how many trailblazers in the early jazz space were Black musicians. It was important to her that her students understand jazz’s roots, especially as many of those trailblazers were taken out of the history books.

“Most of the music that the young people listen to tends to be very groovy and very rhythmic-driven. With all the colors and all those beats, they all came from the language that just happened to be shared by jazz,” Chen said.

Students performing in the Mardi Gras Celebration Concert showcased their skills and love for jazz in the Setnor Auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Cassandra Roshu | Asst. Photo Editor

Grady Collingbourne, a junior music industry major who played the drumset and percussion in the Orange Juice Jazz Octet, said looking at jazz through a historical lens in preparation for the Mardi Gras concert provided him with a new perspective for the similarities across the ages of jazz.

Collingbourne said he couldn’t appreciate the way jazz transcends generations before taking Jazz History with Chen.

“I’ve always felt music was a language but I just feel that even more deeply now,” Collingbourne said. “Playing all of this old, amazing jazz in chronological order helps me feel like I am communicating with other musicians from the past.”

When she brought the Mardi Gras concert to SU, Chen knew she wanted to incorporate the improvisational, collaborative nature of the live jazz scene.

Even though she said her students were intimidated at the thought of improvisation and deviating from their sheet music, Chen encouraged them to push themselves as musicians and creatives and have trust, with all students trying their hand at improvisation since the beginning of the semester.

During Tuesday’s performance, Chen welcomed the audience in on the fun, prompting them in call-and-responses throughout numerous songs. She yelled out, “Eh la bas,” to which the audience replied with the same response, and “ouí madam.” Both of these are Creole phrases, a language Chen said is an integral part of jazz and Mardi Gras.

Tuesday Feb. 21 marked the Setnor School of Music’s first Mardi Gras concert which was lead by professor Chen. Cassandra Roshu | Asst. Photo Editor

For Alexandra Dubaniewicz, who sang for the Jazz/Funk Combo, singing in Creole was a new challenge. Dubaniewicz is a classically-trained opera-style singer who is accustomed to singing in Parisian French. She explained that, in addition to singing in a different genre — jazz — the Creole language forced her to modify her vocal style, altering how she held her mouth on her vowels and where she resonated the sound in her face. But she ultimately found the challenge liberating, and said she loved singing the “fluid” jazz genre.

“I just gave myself permission to have fun and let go. I’ve never done something like this before,” Dubaniewicz said. “When I am onstage looking around at my friends and I see them just feeling the music and having fun, I feel that same feeling too, and then we can share that with the audience. Jazz helped me relax in that way.”

The concluding medley of the concert had the audience on their feet, clapping along with the Ensemble Parade Medley while getting to see all three of the separate performing groups take the stage in unison to close out the show.

Chen led the performers, followed by the audience, out of the Setnor Auditorium, clapping and cheering as the students played solos and striking moments of unison to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” After Chen’s thoughtful programming, and the performances of her students, she wanted central New York to seem like Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

“This is a reminder for jazz students, commercial students, all students, to not forget where all their music came from,” Chen said. “Classical music influenced jazz, and jazz can be found in everything we hear nowadays. To know where to go, we must remember where we’ve been.”

Published on February 22, 2023 at 12:54 am