Calgary Jazz Orchestra ENTERTAINMENT 2011 Concert Review

“Does anyone here remember growing up?” asked CJO director Johnny Summers at the start of the jazz concert which took place in River Park Church on Sunday, January 30, 2011.

The programme for ENTERTAINMENT! was set as a musical trip down memory lane for listeners young and old. The Calgary Jazz Orchestra performed top pop songs by Billy Joel, Sting, Michael Jackson and the Beatles; along with a sampling of video game music and film soundtracks.

The Jazz Band from William Aberhart High School Warmed up the Crowd

The Jazz Band from William Aberhart High School opened the concert with two numbers: "Count Bubba", an upbeat number by Gordon Goodwin of the Big Phat Band and "The Meaning of the Blues", a sultry ballad composed by Bobby Troup.

The Jazz Band has performed in concerts, festivals and competitions throughout Alberta, such as the Vic Lewis Band Festival in Canmore. The group won several awards at the 2010 Alberta International Band Festival. William Aberhart's The Jazz Band is directed by Kevin Willms.

A Pop Culture Buffet and Impromptu Performances Mark the CJO's First Set

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra set a nostalgic theme by opening with the theme from Spiderman. This lively swing number featured toe-tapping solos by Carsten Rubeling on trombone, Shane Statz on sax and Willy Joosen on piano. Incidentally, Joosen is the organist for the Calgary Flames, a post he has held for over 22 years.

The only video game music that was officially on the programme was Koji Kondo's "Bob-omb Battlefield" from Nintendo®'s Super Mario video games. This lively arrangement was done by Brendan McElroy, a Calgary bassist who now lives and works in Toronto.

McElroy is the co-founder of The Runaway Five, a video game band that has opened for the Video Games Live concerts in Toronto. Sarah Matheson on bari sax and Greg Baker on drums performed jaw-dropping solos. Slipping in the "Underworld Theme" was a nice touch.

The impromptu moments were a stroke of genius. When asked what music is played at the Calgary Flames hockey games, Willy Joosen answered by playing several memorable themes on piano, including the "Star Trek Battle Theme" and the theme from the TV hit show The Simpsons. The audience listened in rapt silence to The Simpsons.

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra wrapped up the first set with the theme song from the popular TV show, Family Guy. This number featured solos by Kim Beachum on trumpet, Dr. Jeremy Brown on sax and Carsten Rubeling. Other songs featured in the first half included the theme from Tennessee Williams' "A Street Car Named Desire", classic pop songs "Fragile" by Sting and "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel.

More Movie Music and Classic Pop Songs in the CJO's Second Set

The jazz concert's second half began with a snazzy arrangement of John Williams' "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter movies. It began in an eerie fashion before moving to a lively jazz waltz. Reminisces of the “Song d'une nuit du Sabbat” from Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique came to mind when Gerry Hebert played "Hedwig's Theme" in the highest register for the clarinet. This number featured solos by Gerry Hebert, Shane Statz on tenor sax and Jeremy Brown on alto sax.

The programme included one Michael Jackson hit, "The Way You Make Me Feel". This arrangement featured Johnny Summers on vocals. It started off slowly and then switched to a more upbeat tempo.

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra wrapped up the concert with a rousing Beatles medley arranged by Greg Baker. The medley included "Eight Days a Week", "All My Loving", "When I'm 64" and "Hey Jude" and featured solos by Sarah Matheson. Jeremy Brown, Kim Beachum, Carsten Rubeling, Al Muirhead on trumpet, Greg Baker and Johnny Summers on trumpet. No performance of "Hey Jude" is complete without someone waving a cell phone to the music. The cell waving began on stage and was quickly picked up by one section in the audience.

Other songs featured on the programme included Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and the theme from the film The Man With the Golden Arm, which starred Frank Sinatra.

Will Joosen stole the show in several parts, launching in the the theme song from Wheel of Fortune in response to a dramatic “Oh!” from the audience and more VG music, this time, various themes from the Pac-Man® series.

The playing was top notch for this concert. However, there were a couple of “blips”. First, there were no printed programmes (glitch at the printers). Second, for a programme that touted music from video games, the gamer geeks in the audience wanted more than one video game song on the official programme (although Willy Joosen's musical tangents were a great touch). With the sheer volume of pop, VG music and movie music out there, the CJO will have plenty of material to draw from for upcoming concerts.

About the Calgary Jazz Orchestra

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra is a 16-piece jazz ensemble founded in 2004 by director Johnny Summers. The music for this concert was arranged by Johnny Summers, Greg Baker, Shane Statz and Brendan McElroy.

The CJO delivered a fun programme featuring mostly classic pop songs dubbed “ENTERTAINMENT!”, held Sunday, January 30, 2011. The band launched its 2010/11 season with music by Charles Mingus and Oscar Peterson and followed up with “A Perfectly Frank Christmas”, which featured music by Frank Sinatra. The ensemble's upcoming concert on April 10, 2011 will feature music by Duke Ellington and Harry Connick Jr. For concert tickets or more information, visit the Calgary Jazz Orchestra's website.

Originally published on Suite101.com on Feb 2, 2011. Updated July 23, 2013.

Summer Geek-out at G33km00t 3.0

With the Calgary Expo and Otafest behind us, what are Calgary geeks to do while waiting for the next big geek-out (AKA Animethon)? Why, check out Geekmoot 3.0!

Geekmoot (AKA "g33km00t") will take place Saturday, July 27, 2013 from 2:00 - 11:30 pm at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Communty Association. It is an annual one-day gaming convention that is oh so much more. In addition to playing various tabletop games, attendees can check out the Artists' Alley and vendor tables.

Several voice actors will be there, such as Brendan Hunter (Hunter X Hunter Dragon Ball GT,  Cardfight! Vanguard), Lucas Gilbertson (Cardfight!! Vanguard, Mega Man X8, Hunter X Hunter) and Carol-Anne Day (Gregory Horror Show, My-HiME (TV), MegaMan Maverick Hunter X: The Day of Sigma OVA). Other special guests include the 404s imrpov comedy, Anything Goes and THWOMP.

Here's a sampling of music performed by Anything Goes:

And a live performance by THWOMP:

If that's not enough for you, you can check out the movie screening of Brendan Hunter's production Lloyd the Conqueror. Lloyd, Patrick and Oswald - three slacker students who lost their student funding make a pact with a teacher which leads to some LARP of Demons & Dwarves.

Geekmoot tickets are only $5 for adults and kids 12 and up. Kids under 12 are free. Tickets include admission to all events and food. For more information, check out g33km00t's website or Facebook page.

Learning Rock Grooves from Willie

Summertime is the perfect time to learn a few pop and rock grooves and licks! Even during the school year, I hop onto Youtube to listen to a few grooves for piano or cajón for choir. Here's a place I found recently.

Willie offers online lessons but he also has some free video tutorials on his website and his Youtube Channel.

Check out Rock Groove #2. It's pretty neat:

I like how he gives you ideas to vary the pattern.

Give it a try!  Have fun.

Eric Whitacre on Creativity and Inspiration

In Eric's words, "Hey gang!" One of my friends from Virtual Choir shared this presentation that Eric Whitacre gave a while back. He has some wise words regarding how to hone our creativity.

He gets into the the Golden Mean (or Golden Ratio) a little bit. As soon as he mentioned it, I could picture a Baroque minuet with 2 + 2 + 4 bar phrases:

I must say that I have to agree with him about the airplane being a great place to be still and then get some work done.

How Pianos are Made

When I was visiting Michael Lipnicki's Fine Pianos in the spring, I learned that pianists know the least about their instrument. I'd have to agree. Some things, you learn with years of lessons and performing, but with over 12,000 parts - there's a lot to know! The very first session I attended at the 2013 CFMTA Music Inspires Convention was The Physical Piano by Katharina Normandeau. That was only the tip of the iceberg.

Earlier this week, I attended a session at Steinway Pianos of Calgary. What I loved is that we got to stick our hands in and (gently) check out some of those 12,000 parts.

Interesting tidbits I learned:

• the inside of the grand piano must sustain over 20 tonnes of pressure from the strings (some sources say 30).

• the piano rims have to cure for months

• wood grain does affect tone

• the piano contains 10,000 moving parts

• the piano construction has to take into account the dynamic nature of steel (which changes with temperature fluctuations) and wood (which changes with humidity fluctuations).

• double escapement looks really cool close up

You can check out my Look Inside the Piano photo album here.

Another area of interest is piano construction, especially, outside-in versus inside-out construction. Does it make a difference? I think this is something people will debate about.

Instead, I will share with you some interesting videos for you to check out. Try not to mind the marketing slant. They all do things a little differently, so they are trying to maximize their competitive edge:

Making of the C. Bechstein Piano (12-part series):

Making of a Steinway Piano:

Yamaha Factory Tour

If you can, schedule some time (or ask your piano teacher to organize and event) at your local piano dealer. It's one thing to see a video but it's much better to see this up close.

Actually, if you have the time and the inkling, visit more than one piano dealer. I will be taking my students to visit the other showrooms as well.

"Why?" you ask? Each piano is unique. Each dealer, like teachers, is unique. Pianos are a huge investment, so you want to find the right fit for you and your family.

And, if you're blessed to be in a city that has a piano factory - book a tour! I know that when I finally make it to Japan, I will ask my contacts with Yamaha, Steinway (which also produce the Boston and Essex pianos) and Roland to book factory tours.Thankfully, they're all in the same area - Hamamatsu.