The University of Rhode Island fine arts department hosted their first Jazz Combo event on Tuesday, showcasing the URI Standards Combo and vocalists under the direction of Atla DeChamplain, a professor of amplified voice.
The performance consisted of 15 songs: four from the URI Standards Combo by itself and 11 songs sung by eight vocalists.
The show started with Louis Shriber, a fourth-year student and one of the vocalists, who introduced the combo before playing their four songs.
All songs were upbeat and had solos from each instrument. Two notable performances were “Well You Needn’t” and “Get Out Of Town.” “Well You Needn’t” included crescendos, and the unity of all instruments led to an uprising moment before falling into a moderate tone for the rest of the song.
“Get Out Of Town” was sultry where the music slowed when the vocalists sang their verses. Both the alto and tenor saxophones dueted with the singers through parts of the song.
The URI Standards Combo members were Tyler Vollucci on alto saxophone, fourth-year Jude LaRoche on tenor saxophone and fourth-year Justin St.Clair on piano. Fourth-year Nick Pepe was on guitar, fourth-year Wyatt Crosby was on bass and Matt Ippolito was on drums. The two vocalists were Shriber and fourth-year Ricki Rizzo.
After the URI Standards Combo performance, each vocalist came on stage to sing accompanied by a rhythm section. The section members were LaRoche, Pepe, Crosby and Ippolito, making their second appearance in the show. Luis N ũ nez made his first appearance as the trombonist.
One performance to remember was “Just Friends” by John Klenner, sung by fourth-year Beckett Collins. Collins chose the song because of how much he liked it, he said in his introduction speech.
“I first heard this song in a jazz improv class and then Chet Baker sang it and now I’m singing it,” Collins said.
The song was slower, unlike the previous songs. It expressed emotion, showing heart and soul as he sang the ballad. A guitar duet with Collins was also included to show the sadness of a relationship turning from romantic to friends.
Additionally, “Never Will I Marry” by Frank Loesser, sung by Rizzo, portrayed a woman who plans to never marry through vocal changes. She also dueted on a verse with LaRoche and ended the song with strong notes to show how much this woman doesn’t want to marry anyone.
The most interesting performance was “All The Things You Are” by Jerome Kern, sung by Andrea Sims. In the Ella Fitzgerald cover, she only sings the refrain but there is an unknown verse that Sims learned and added to the song. When she got to the unknown verse from the Fitzgerald cover, the accompaniment stopped so listeners could hear it clearly.
Going into the performance, Sims was extremely nervous, she said. She had to prepare herself before she went on the stage, shaking the nerves away and going over the lyrics.
“This was 100 times better than me practicing [the song],” Sims said.
The songs chosen for the show were picked by the director according to Shriber, a double major in music composition and jazz performance in voice. His favorite song out of all he performed was “Get Out of Town.” He felt that it was a really solid performance.
“When I originally learned it, it was a really slow ballad,” Shriber said. “Then at the first rehearsal, our professor said we’re going to change it to bossanova and make it faster.”
In this jazz combo, the directors and coordinator wanted to add more music, according to DeChamplain. All of the singers are students studying jazz voice. It was an opportunity for the students to perform. She either gave songs for them to sing or let them choose their own.
“It’s a responsibility for a jazz performer to familiarize themselves with as many [songs] as possible,” DeChamplain said.
For information regarding future URI music events, visit the Fine Arts Department event calendar at uri.edu/music/events.
