Concert Review 1

In this well composed Jazz concert and amongst its many songs played in the concert,
I got a light taste of “Latino” in it as not all songs are strictly in the style of
contemporary modern jazz, rather it is a combination of diverse musical elements and
a great flow of improvising solo performance in between. As Peter said that the
impromptu music is just out of spontaneity and fun, “they couldn’t help it”.

The instrumentation of this concert includes guitar, saxophone, flute, bass, drums and
there’s also a vocal who sing with lyrics and melodies. The style of the music is
characterized by blues notes and call-and-response vocal, very similar to the blues
genre, the Jazz band also dominant its swing style with elements of improvisation

The first most prominent characteristic of the Planet Cole’s music is the changing
tempo. The tempo is sometimes fast, brisk and lively, or even intense to keep the
adrenaline pumping but then it will all simultaneously slow down to the pace that
makes people feel calm and peaceful. Such great control of the tempo requires the
precise collaboration between the guitarists, drummer and saxophonist. Such
changing of pace and tempo makes people feel a sense of life and the exuberating
pumping of the music.

Then it leads to the steady pulse of the music, even though the rhythm might
sometimes change its way of organization, there is almost always a steady beat in the
background no matter how much other melodies of the musical instruments change.
The beat, however, also change the tempo sometimes for creativity and uniqueness.
When it is approaching the end, there was a short period of drumming free rhythmed
performance which changed my ideas about the rhythmic music I used to listen to.

9 minutes in there is a guitar solo with Peter Sprague playing his two-neck guitar, I
never thought a monophonic solo performance could be this exhilarating. What struck
me even more is that Rebecca Jade could do improvising singing on set with the band
as well 22 minutes in and cut in precisely at the time when the band stopped
improvising, where I couldn’t help but clap with the rest of the audience, the same
technique was deployed again 1 hour in. I do not know specifically what name is of
each song but I do remember that I was deeply touched by the lyrics of “Mama
Mayhem, Papa Mayhem” for the clarity in her voice could transcend time and space.

The thing I appreciate the most about Jazz music is that the melodies and the
background accompaniment supplement and complete each other but don’t lose their
own traits and distinctiveness, they are just as beautiful even listened to separately. I
also admire greatly about how the style could be so freely expressed yet organized as
well. I see a balance of indulgence and restraints, creativity and dogma, self-
identification and group unity.

When the concert was over, I clapped my hand for as long as I could.
“I couldn’t help it, either,”