Review: Saddleback College’s jazz faculty performs in the McKinney
Guitar instructor Jamie Rosenn plays with the jazz faculty on the first jazz show of semester. (Photographer/Niko Labarbera)
The jazz faculty performed an ensemble in the McKinney Theatre at Saddleback College, Monday Aug. 25 at 7 p.m.
Joey Sellers, trombone player and director, introduced his fellow wood and brass enthusiasts one-by-one to begin the show.
“The only true mother of the band,” Sellers said while introducing Ariel Alexander, (Alto Sax).
Other faculty members included: Ron Stout (trumpet), Jerry Pinter (tenor sax), Jamie Rosenn (guitar), Paul Johnson (drums) and guest bassist Hamilton Price, who has been newly accepted into The Jazz Ambassadors.
The jazz faculty opened with “Libertines,” unaccompanied by any opening statements.
The New Orleans style tune “Struttin’ with some Barbecue,” was given a fresh twist by the jazz faculty.
The horns vacated for a rhythmic jam, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” a piece originally done by the late and great song lyricist, Irving Kahal and American composer, Sammy Fain. Johnson used wire brushes to create a sweeping mellow sound.
Alexander played a solo that would have made Charlie Parker proud in “This Much.” Sellers conveyed it as “the epitome of taste.”
The closing song, “Madagabucci,” was cemented in the audiences’ mind while they left the theater. There was a deep and rich harmony from the trumpet and bass. The song was punctuated with “Madagabucci” outcries from Sellers and the audience throughout the tune.
