CJO performs ‘West Side Story’

In America today, jazz is a dying art form.  Even though it’s being taught at most universities around the country, the only way one can really know the popularity of a genre is by record sales. Considering the overall slump in CD and iTunes sales due to music pirating and the assortment of the Miley Cyrus’s and Jonas Brothers out there clogging up the radio, little room is left for jazz. When one also takes into account that most of the audience in our on-campus jazz performances is made up of music department students, coupled with the fact that there were very few flyers posted around campus for this particular performance. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to get new patrons to come out to see a jazz show.
    What was great about the Concert Jazz Orchestra performing “West Side Story” at the William Link Theater on Oct. 10 was that the performance expanded its usual listeners to include fans of musical theater, which helped to get the full house crowd it deserved.
    To be honest, I went into the show wanting to just hear duplications of the “West Side Story” soundtrack, but I was pleasantly surprised by what actually happened.  
    The entire show was simply enthralling. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire show, waiting to see how the Concert Jazz Orchestra would transform some of my favorite pieces of classic musical theater into magnificently textured big band arrangements.
    CJO pianist Anthony Lopez started off the night by performing solo piano selections of the musical that were not arranged for the big band as a precursor to the main program. Very beautifully played and executed, they teased the crowd with a taste of what was to come.  
    From the first note to the last the CJO — backed by Randy Drake on drum set and Nicole Van der Paardt on bass — nailed every tune perfectly capturing all the dynamics and rich textures of the Stan Kenton Orchestra. With Dan Kaneyuki on Alto Sax and Chaise Baird on Tenor, it’s hard to not be amazed by their amazing solo techniques, which dazzled the crowd at least once every tune. Even though the solo sections were short, they managed to play licks that I was still singing in my head after the show was over.  
    One of the very few complaints I had about this show was that a couple of the songs just did not capture the essence of the original arrangements, like “America.” Also, “Gee Officer Krupke” is supposed to be a humorous and funny song, but the humor was not found in the music. But this is not at fault with the band, just my own preferences.  
    The majority of you have, at the very least, heard of West Side Story (Sondheim’s take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) and a good number are familiar with the music and storyline. Yet someone thought it would be necessary to have someone narrate the story in between every tune. At first it was interesting and not bothersome at all, but after a few tunes I thought to myself, “Thank you for reading what’s in the program.”  Nothing against the guy who narrated, it just didn’t work.
    There are some amazing musicians here at the Cole Conservatory, and I would encourage everyone to go out and see a jazz performance, or an orchestra performance or anything really. Keep music alive.