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Jazz faculty ready to deliver the performance and rock the stage. The faculty performed seven pieces altogether in the concert.
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Craig Treinen, associate professor and theatre department chair, welcomes the audience with his speech before the concert. He talked about the pieces that were performed in the quintet.
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Kurt Morrow, adjunct professor of music, plays bass. He played the piece “Someday My Prince Will Come.”
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Raffaele Cipriano, director of orchestras and assistant professor of music, plays the piano. He performed “Happy People” by Kenny Garrett.
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Von Hansen (left), assistant professor of music, and Tetsuya Nishiyama (right), adjunct instructor of music, share the stage and perform their pieces together. Hansen played drums, whereas Nishiyama played guitar.
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Treinen takes the stage with his saxophone. He played his instrument in the piece called “Tricotism” by Herbie Hancock.
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Hansen showcases his drumming skills during the concert. He played the drums in all seven pieces that were performed in the concert.
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Bryce Call, assistant professor of music, plays saxophone during the concert.He played a piece called “Tricotism” by Oscar Pettiford.
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Nishiyama plays the guitar during the concert. He has performed at established venues in the Midwest, such as Green Mill, Andy’s Jazz Club and Jazz Showcase.
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Treinen (left), Morrow (middle) and Call (right) perform together. It was the last concert of the semester for the group.
Washburn University music and theatre presented the WU Jazz Faculty concert on Thursday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. in White Concert Hall.
Raffaele Cipriano, director of orchestra, shared his background as a classical pianist, his favorite piece and talked about the faculty jazz and their role at Washburn.
“I started with blues when I was in high school, and I was having a lot of fun with that,” Cipriano said. “And then in recent years, I started learning a little more about jazz. Today’s concert featured the Washburn Jazz Faculty and the members of the band are professors at the department of music and theater, and we played seven tunes by a well-known jazz composer.”
Tetsuya Nishiyama, adjunct guitar instructor, discussed his passion for jazz music, emphasizing its freedom and self-expression. He reflected on his performance, acknowledging both his mistakes and the importance of embracing imperfection.
“In jazz, it’s obviously a lot of solos, improvisations. It’s just a lot of freedom. It expresses myself, yourself, and then just kind of listening to each other. But jazz, especially, is really self-expression. You say what you want to say, so that’s the kind of beauty of this music, especially in the solo part,” Nishiyama said. “Tonight, I made a lot of mistakes [but]there’s no perfection [in jazz]. So it’s just trying to embrace everything, and then whatever happens, just accept it and then create music together with other musicians.”
Kurt Morrow, an adjunct brass instructor, discussed his career in music and highlighted a memorable solo performance by Craig Treinen, associate professor and chair of theatre, during the concert.
“I’ve been playing the bass for almost 50 years,” Morrow said. “Jazz is a completely different genre. It’s all about improvisation. It’s all about knowing the chord changes in the song, being able to play through those changes, being able to play the melody, in my case, walk a bass line, play a solo. Dr. Treinen played a lot of good solos, and I felt like we supported him well, and there were highs and lows, like a solo is supposed to be, starts out down here and then builds up.”
Alisla Florentine, freshman environmental biology major, shared her favourite piece and expressed her interest in jazz music.
“I like jazz music a lot, ” Florentine said. “I’d probably go with ‘Happy People’ or ‘Simone.’ For ‘Happy People,’ I liked how it was, and I was really focused on the bass when he was playing. And then for ‘Simone,’ I was more focused on the piano because it sounded like a fun song to play on the piano. I also like the guitar part.”
The concert ended with the piece “Work Song” by Nat Adderley.
The department will continue its season with more upcoming performances, including senior recitals, ensemble concerts and faculty showcases.
Edited by Morgan Albrecht and Jeremy Ford.
