Zachary Croft

Jazz Ensemble II
Saxophone Studio Recital Review

The first piece is Adagio by Samuel Barber. It begins with very soft notes being held out

for a long time. One saxophone plays the melody while the other saxophones play together to

form chords behind the melody. As the piece moves forward, other saxophones begin to add

secondary melodies underneath the main melody. There is a lot of dynamic contrast, usually with

each phrase starting very quiet and building in volume as notes are held out.

The next piece is For All That Has Been Given. It features piano and one saxophone. The

piano plays very solemn chords that are held out and provide the harmony for the saxophone

soloist. The saxophone melody is very sad sounding. There are a lot of key changes in the chords

played by the piano. The piano part also uses a lot of minor chords that have dissonance, which

makes it sound even sadder.

Improvisation is played next. It features just one saxophone player. The piece is very

mysterious sounding because it doesn’t seem to have a tonal center. The saxophone uses strange

scales, and sometimes it sounds like he just plays certain patterns and descends chromatically,

creating an eerie atmosphere.

Next is In a Sentimental Mood. It is played by a jazz combo with sax, piano, bass, and

drums. There is an ongoing piano melody for the first minute of the piece which makes it sound

sad. After about a minute the piece goes into a more traditional jazz progression and sounds

much happier. Halfway through the piece the tempo picks up and the drums start swinging.
 The next piece is Round Midnight which has just piano and saxophone. It is a very slow

piece with the drums using brushes. I can hear a lot of II-V progressions. There is also a lot of

descending chromaticism.

Have You Met Miss Jones is the next tune that gets played. It has a saxophone player and

piano player. The piano has a very groovy jazz blues feel, comping chords. Meanwhile, the

saxophone is playing some high energy lines.

Cantaloupe Island was played next. It featured many saxophone players. This song

sounds almost like hard blues, or maybe even rock. After playing the main melody, the solo

section begins. Every saxophone player had a chance to solo.

The last piece to be played was C jam blues. This is a simple blues progression in the key

of C. The melody is very interesting because it consists of only two notes. The phrase is

repeating again and again throughout the blues progression. After playing the head twice the

song transitioned into the solo section. One saxophone player played the two note melody in his

solo, but expanded upon it by adding different notes near the end of his phrases. What I thought

was really interesting is that there was a drum solo, and the drummer only had a kick drum,

snare, hi-hat, and ride, so he was very limited compared to a normal kit. He did a lot of snare

rudiments and made use of drum rolls, which is something I’ve never heard in a drum solo.