Essay On Jazz Performance

A. Performance On, April 5, 2017, I attended a jazz performance by Jim Schmidt and Chris Janzen. The performance was held inside a restaurant called Campagnia, which is located in Fresno, California. On April 7, 2017, I attended a live jazz group, that went by the name Rich Severson Trio. They performed at a local restaurant in Fresno California called Ginz Bistro.
B. Instrumentation
Jim Schmidt and Chris Janzen worked as a duo. They had a acoustic guitar, saxophone, and a flute. As for the Rich Severson Trio, they had an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, drums, and vocals. The Rich Severson Trio, was more of jazz band that integrated rock into its performances by the instruments that they were playing.
C. Solos The duo played many great songs with many great solos that were integrated. A particular solo that stood out to me, was when the duo switched from a guitar to a flute. The solo started off slow and very mellow, lasting for about 15 seconds. Then quickly changed the pace to a fast tempo feel. It had a up and down rhythmic pattern. Although the tempo was fast, it didn’t have an intense, overwhelming feeling. However, for the Rich Severson Trio, they performed a song called “My foolish Heart” and in the middle they introduced a guitar solo. The guitar solo showed the incredible
However, when they went on and played their list of songs, they lacked improvisation. The music started to become repetitive and as a listener I started to have a hard time appreciating the music because it was not grabbing my attention. The Rich Severson Trio, had their best performances when they played high tempo music, which integrated solo’s as well. The did a poor job in their slow mellow songs, because the music didn’t show their skills and character as a musician. Overall, attending both groups was a great experience. They each performed very well and delivered unique music that impacted me in many