A Concert Review of "Dimensions in Jazz" Directed by Wade Judy

I decided to go to the “Dimensions in Jazz” concert which was directed by Wade Judy, Dr. Eric Bush, and Marko Marcinko. Before the performance started, there was a wide range of people entering. Some were students and some were adults; however, there were no children that I saw. The students usually wore casual clothes like a t-shirt with jeans or business casual clothes like a dress shirt with khakis. The performers all wore formal attire and most, if not all, of the adults wore business casual to formal attire. Additionally, the audience was not very loud like most concerts or public events; the sound of the audience was at a reasonable volume even though everyone was talking before the performance began. A lot of people filled up the seats evenly. The stage was very well lit with white lighting and the theater was painted black, which gave an enhanced focus on the stage.

Once the performance began, there was no talking; no talking was made throughout the whole event which amazed me since most concerts have people talking during at least one song. There were a lot of cheers after solos and improvisations made by the musicians. For the first act, I was surprised by the song choice because the songs seemed more contemporary or modern than what I would call “traditional” jazz, even though one song was categorized as swing. Additionally, the drummer had a lot of control of the song during “Birdland” and “Days of Wine and Roses”.

I enjoyed the first performance way more than the others because it was more unpredictable. It may have been more unpredictable because I have never been to a jazz concert and had no idea what to expect. I really liked “Chili Today, Hot Tamale” which had a Latin tone to it. During this song, I noticed the trumpets had to quickly switch between having the mute and not having it; I thought this was very neat to watch. Also, I felt like the songs by Outer Dimensions had a lot of improvisation, solos, and syncopations.

Throughout the first, second, and third acts by the bands, I noticed that they would tune their instruments before they performed. I thought the tuning was odd because in rock concerts (for example), instruments do not have to be tuned right before the performance. However, I think tuning is far more important in jazz than any other genre. Additionally, it seemed like the highlights of all of the performances were the solos or improvisations.

During the second act by the Inner Dimensions, the song “Mercy Mercy Mercy” had a call and response by two saxophonists. I thought this part was very entertaining and enjoyable! On another note, I thought it was cool that the trumpets switched from the back to the front during the song “Rockin’ In Rhythm”. They used mutes and it took a few notes or a few seconds to go in sync with each other.

Ultimately, I really liked the jazz concert. I am glad I went and would consider going to another jazz concert if a friend invited me to one. The really appealing thing about the concert was that everyone was quiet during the performances and the instruments sounded much better live. The concert gave me a more appreciation of the jazz genre.

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