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Metro jazz comes alive

By Justin Rennolds jrennold@mscd.edu

Metro State is home to a prestigious music program loaded with dozens of talented musicians. They come from various musical backgrounds; some play in hip-hop bands, others are in punk rock groups and some even jam in reggae outfits. Despite their differences, Auraria Campus student musicians have one thing in common: a love for jazz.

"Jazz is a lot more challenging, it opens up a lot more areas of other music. You take these complex things and go do something simple like reggae and it makes you sound really cool," said guitarist Adam Rodriguez.

According to Metro jazz teacher and recording artist Ron Miles, the goal of the program is to make students better musicians. Apparently it's working. After being together for a mere five weeks, the four student jazz combos performed pieces from respected jazz musicians flawlessly at their first recital of the school year. Highlights included a cover of Thelonius Monk's "Skippy," the 12:00 Combo's rendition of John Coltrane's "Mr. P.C." and an improvisation on John Lewis' "Django."

The teachers that direct Metro's jazz combos are recording artists themselves.

"There are four different combos and three instructors who teach them," Miles said. "I teach two, Dave Devine teaches one and Ron Bland teaches another."

Metro's jazz program is brimming with diversity and is successful in teaching its students skills necessary to expand their own musical boundaries.

The program also keeps things fresh and exciting, according to singer and UCD student Mailyn Faulkner. "Jazz is so improvisational and it's brand new every single night. I never sing a piece the same way twice ... that's one of the reasons why we all love it," Faulkner said.

Student musicians enrolled in Metro's Jazz program speak highly of it. The program has a reputation that far precedes it. Many students join because they heard how great it is.

"I heard a lot about Fred Hess and Ron Miles and I came here more for the classical thing but once I got here I started playing jazz," drummer Luke Wachter said.

Wachter, a sophomore, is something of a musical connoisseur. "I listen to some punk rock, I listen to a little bit of hip-hop, indie rock and a lot of jazz," he said. "My inspiration comes mostly from the people that I know and people that I play with."

Doug Blease, a senior and accomplished alto saxophonist, sees a lot of positives in Metro's program. "We have an excellent faculty. We also have opportunities to perform, which I think is very important," he said. "There is a big band and there are several small combos which gives everybody who wants to play jazz an opportunity."

The school's jazz program is flourishing and this year it's as good as it has ever been. There are a lot of freshmen enrolled and the music being produced is phenomenal. Metro Music Department chair Walter Barr is happy with what's been done and sees plenty of potential for the future.

"I think they really did some good music ... It's early in the semester so they're pushing to get things happening, learning to listen to each other and working on improvisation and the form of the songs and so forth," Barr said at the September 28th recital.

"We have all different levels of players that are here tonight ... that's kind of the beauty of what's happening here," Barr said. "It's a good start for them, they're really doing some good things and this program is great all the time."

Most Metro State music fans are unaware of the talent that roams these hallowed halls. On top of the respected musicians that teach here there are tons of future musical greats. Jazz fans and others looking for some excellent, cheap entertainment would do well to take some time out of their hectic day to drop by the music department and check it out.