By: Anastasia Akuffo-Afful, ENGL336.002
On Saturday, October 8th 2011, the SFJAZZ Collective came to Frostburg State University to bless us with music sweet to the ears. Walking into a big room full of bright colored spotlights, nicely decorated tables and chairs, waiters’ parading around, along with an open bar toward the back of the room, was a wonderful sight to see. As the vibraphone soft and soothingly pulls you into the room, you cannot help but admire the center stage where all the colorful dimmed stage lights were focused on the shiny brass metal instruments, which were waiting patiently to be played.
As people of different age, gender and race came together for this wonderful event, a group of eight individuals presented and blessed the stage with their presence. This group of men looked ever so stunning, poised, and so into their line of work, which was to display their God given talent and to play the lovely soulful art of music for our ears to hear.
The pianist, Edward Simon, stepped up on stage along with the other group of men to introduce themselves and the instruments they would be playing that night. Along with that, they made sure to inform the audience that they would be performing a collective piece on the pop musician, Stevie Wonder, because he represents a departure from each of the previous tributes to jazz giants and that Stevie Wonder’s songs have a profound impact on musicians of every stripe of our culture overall.
As they began their performance, they opened up the act with one of Stevie Wonder’s classics, “Blame on the sun”, which had the crowd intrigued and moving in their seats while they and gazed at these talented men on stage. This group of men identify themselves as the SFJAZZ Collective. They are an all-star jazz ensemble compromising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today. Launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ –the West Coast’s largest nonprofit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival – the Collective has quickly become one of the most exciting and acclaimed groups on the American and international jazz scenes. Their latest release, Live in New York 2011 –Season 8, was recorded at The Jazz Standard in New York City across a five-night run. It is the definitive document of the Collective’s 2011 repertoire, including fresh arrangements of Stevie Wonder classics and original compositions.
Making their way to their finale of the night, they topped it off and had the crowd going wild and out of their seats with Stevie Wonder’s all time classic, “Superstition”. As they came to an end, strumming their last cords and blowing their last notes, the whole audience stood up in awe whiles clapping away. It was truly a sight to see.
As the concert ended, a few people students were so excited to give their opinions on the performance they experienced. Speaking to the first student, Annabelle Busia happily satisfied stated, “I learned the musical styling of many famous jazz musicians from the past such as, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald and many others. I loved the whole setting and scene of the concert and it also made me feel calm and relaxed.” Another student, Tiphanie Handy, full of joy and happiness said, “the performance made me think of my youth and made me calm. I also felt very relaxed with the atmosphere and the dimmed lighting being just right. The music made me think of good times and family times as well. Lastly, the third student, Mayowa Ogundipe, said energetically, “I think the concert was spectacular! The music was very well composed and the artists were all brilliant.” So as you can see, if anyone did not attend this spectacular event, then you really missed out of something epic and breathtaking, which restores the soul of everything that it needs.
You can learn more about this group on this website: http://www.sfjazz.org
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