Cultural Blog: Music of the Jazz Age: An Evening with Scott and Hemingway

For one of cultural events, I went to a Jazz presentation at the Frank Arts Center. The program, Music of the Jazz Age, literally blew me away. It featured two staff, Dr. Cook and Dr. Adams, and two Shepherd students Dan Dunn and Sawyer Gordon making up the ensemble of piano, saxophone, bass, and percussion.

Jazz, the music and the culture is very dear to me, as a musician myself, who has played jazz, I have such a great appreciation and derive much enjoyment from it. It was truly a night to be remember as this outstanding quartet took us back in time to the cafe culture, the writer's Mecca, in  20's Paris. Having taken a Parisian Modernism english class, I could easily place myself among all the sentiments and nuances of the era. In the background of it all was the birth of Jazz. Every time I hear a live performance  I fall in love with it all over again.

The performance was impeccable, there are no words to describe the talent and proficiency of those who have mastered their instruments.  Jazz was definitely an era that changed music for all of time. It introduced syncopation and swing, and led to the birth of improvisation, recreating and remastering every melody. The wonderful smattering of tunes included everything f

rom Gershwin to Duke Ellington, and a small short from the Jazz Singer. There was a lot of laughter, and a bit of history, and it all became a magical event and one of the best nights out that I have had in such a  long time.

Some of the funniest moments were when each of the soloists tried to outplay and outdo the other, but it  only added to the fun lightheartedness that is Jazz. But no less entertaining was remembering the spots of time that the music brought with it and experiencing a sort of wishful melancholy of the a time now passed. It was a wonderful evening to celebrate such an awesome and influential  time in music, art and literature.