Kris Tiner’s business card reads, “Trumpeter Composer Improviser.” It could not be more succinct and understated. Tiner led the BC Jazz Ensemble through three sets of music that were rehearsed as well as free.
Tiner blended in with the students, who wore solid-colored collared shirts and dress pants with some accenting their outfits with fedora hats or ties. The wardrobes matched the music in a way; they were both casually classy pieces with just enough individual flair.
This personal twist to the standards of jazz is what makes this style of music great, and it is exactly the students who pulled it off with the ability of seasoned jazz artists. The mood and the style of the tunes played made me feel like it was 1974, and something down and dirty was happening.
It was the swankiness of the muted trumpet during “Pussycat Dues,” Winston Crite’s close-eyed sway during his bass grooves, and the back-to-back solos throughout that made this evening much more than a simple student recital. The students performed with a professional coolness that elevated the event to a true concert flowing through multiple styles.
There was only one thing about the stage show that really took away from the mood of the show for me: toe-tapping. It is this little act of rhythm that lets me know that the band is enjoying what they are doing as much as I am enjoying what they are doing. Oh well, the devil is in the details.
I suppose it is something this small that gripes at me because the music was so wonderful that it is easy to forget that the band is all students who may be pretty nervous about performing.
But nerves are what makes a performance great, and these musicians turned whatever anxiousness they were feeling into a great, charged performance.