On Tuesday, March 21st, the Vestavia Hills High School Jazz Band performed for a Mardi Gras themed venue at the Farrell in Homewood. Gigging outside in the Homewood downtown area, the band played through an evening repertoire containing early 20th century standards, New Orleans dixieland tunes, and a modern instrumental rendition of Earth Wind & Fire’s “In the Stone.” “South Rampart Street Parade,” an early 20th century dixieland arrangement by Bob Crosby, pays homage to the early roots of jazz that can be traced back to historic locations such as New Orleans and is now associated with holidays such as Mardi Gras.
History
Mardi Gras—or Fat Tuesday—originates from the early Catholic Roman empire. A holiday celebrating the start of the Christian Lent season leading up to Easter, Mardi Gras was diffused to multiple European countries and later spread by Christian immigrants to the United States, in port cities such as New Orleans. These immigrants brought their musical customs with them as well, and when combined with Caribbean and African musical techniques, the popular genre of jazz soon emerged as a byproduct. While not as popular nowadays, Jazz music is still an important aspect of the Mardi Gras holiday in the Southern United States.
Dixieland music is most commonly composed of the trumpet, clarinet, trombone, piano, bass, tuba, drums, and guitar. Most arrangements consist of a simple “head,” or melody, which is then followed by improvised solos by the instrumentalists, accompanied by the rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, percussion), who provide a tempo and harmony for the solo players to follow. Pioneering instrumentalists and composers such as Louis Armstrong first developed this form of music and allowed for it to grow and evolve into modern jazz music.
Soloists & Arrangements
Arrangements included: Cream of the Crop, Blue Skies, South Rampart Street Parade, In the Stone, and Little Brown Jug.
Soloists included Joshua Hanje on alto saxophone, Andy Sheng on alto saxophone, Ashlyn Berry on tenor saxophone and clarinet, Katherine Krontiras on piano, Ben Spooner on guitar, and Connor Lovette on trombone. Solos were largely improvised by the players.
The Jazz Band will perform again on May 1st during their spring concert at Vestavia Hills High School!
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