The University of Rhode Island jazz department kicked off their spring season on Thursday, Feb. 22 with the first jazz combos night of the year.
The show featured two combos, the first directed by assistant professor of amplified voice Atla DeChamplain. The second combo, John’s Kitchen, was directed by adjunct professor John McKenna.
The concert consisted of both instrumentals and vocals alike. The first combo featured vocal stylings of third-years Louis Shriber and Ricki Rizzo, accompanied by professor Joe Parillo on piano, Johnny Santini ‘23 on bass and third-year Andrew Dyson on the drums. The combo played five tunes, including a rendition of Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind,” sung by Rizzo. Shriber, Rizzo and the rest of the combo finished off with a duet of the song “Four” by Miles Davis.
As the applause faded and the first combo made their way off stage right, McKenna appeared on stage to introduce the players in John’s Kitchen. The combo included Jude LaRoche and Elijah Smith-Antondies on tenor saxophones, David Canavan on trombone, Collin Klampert on guitar, Carleton Fisher on bass, Tristan Klampert on drums and Louis Shriber returned to the stage for vocals.
McKenna thanked the audience for supporting the jazz department and finally introduced himself by saying, “My name is John McKenna, I’m the director for these very talented guys, I’m not just some guy who was walking by.”
With a chuckle from the audience, McKenna exited the stage and the combo began to play.
The combo played four tunes, starting off with “I Wanted to Say” by Victor Lewis. Instead of providing lyrical accompaniment, Shriber sang along to the melody with the rest of the horns. After the concert, Shriber commented on this unconventional arrangement.
“It just isn’t as fun when the combo is just your backing track,” Shriber said. “There are three to four jazz combos on campus, but only two jazz vocalists. This way I get to be more a part of a combo.”
Shriber explained that, instead of composing a separate vocal part, he takes a horn part and learns it instead. He noted he usually sings the trombone part, using his voice as his built-in horn.
The first song closed with a bass solo, performed by Fisher. The rest of the combo watched and listened, letting him go off on his own riff. Fisher kept playing, and seemingly slipped into the next song’s melody. Shriber chimed in with the vocals to the tune “There Will Never Be Another You” by Harry Warren, and the rest of the instruments joined in to create a full sound.
Shriber and the band played all the way through the chorus, and then something unexpected began to happen. Shriber started singing backwards, and soon the whole combo was playing their notes backwards as well.
McKenna, who was responsible for arranging the combo’s performance, explained his thought process behind the choice.
“You know, we get used to the standard way of hearing everything,” McKenna said. “I thought, why not change it up?”
The musicians played the piece backwards note for note, creating a surprise and puzzle for the audience, according to McKenna.
The combo finished with “Bellwether,” composed and arranged by McKenna himself. The tune featured a solo from every member of the combo, which gave them all their moment to show off their improvisational skills. While McKenna plans who will have a solo in the piece, what the musicians do with it is entirely organic.
“I went to a performance college in New York, and I had all these amazing teachers,” McKenna said. “It’s such a pleasure to be in a situation where I can give back, and with my own take on the music.”
This combo night was the first of the season, with three more combo nights and two big band nights scheduled for the rest of the semester.