The concert I attended was a Jazz concert that featured graduate composers’ ensemble and the Jazz ensemble. The graduate composers’ ensemble includes seven young composers and their amazing compositions. The director of the Jazz ensemble is Felipe Salles, and the instrumentation of the Jazz ensemble includes the saxophones, trombones, trumpets, horn and rhythm part.

As a jazz music lover, I always feel excited when I enjoy the jazz music. In my opinion, unlike the conservative classical music and the abstract contemporary music, jazz music is more vivid and diverse. Every instrument in the jazz ensemble has their own language and expression, but when they combine together, the fluid melody and the dynamic rhythm take me into a magical world. Therefore, when I saw the information about this concert, I was attracted by the programs of the concert immediately. This jazz concert gives young jazz composers a great opportunity to perform their own composition. For the audience like me, it is a perfect chance to enjoy the new jazz music and experience real live jazz performance.

One of the remarkable things is that, though those graduate students are the new- generation composers, their compositions are still very attractive and impressive. The graduate composers’ ensemble combined several typical jazz instruments such as trumpet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, viola da gamba, guitar, piano, bass and drum. When the trumpet performer performed the composition, I was surprised by the beautiful melody. In the beginning, all the instruments were playing together, and suddenly, the sound of saxophones, the piano and the percussion decreased, the trumpet player who is standing in the middle of the stage began to solo. The trumpet melody was like telling a story of the composer, from my perspective, the trumpet was expressing a lonely and sad feeling. With the soft tone of the trumpet, the composer just narrated his inner feelings through the music.

There are several compositions that have the impressive tittles. The first one is the song named “Pour un Vrai Ami”, which is composed by Jay Elfenbein. The name is French, and it means “To My Real Friend”. Through this jazz piece, you can feel the sincere emotion inside the melody. Another song is “Four Years Back”. The composer of this piece is Brian Martin. The melody of this music is also touching. The music brings every audience to their own memory.

Another performance of the graduate composers’ ensemble is also remarkable. It is a smooth jazz composition. The whole tempo of the piece is slow and soothing. The guitar plays the melody with the trumpet and saxophone together. The tone of the guitar makes the whole piece feel more graceful and somber. The percussion in this piece is also remarkable. Though the rhythm is not so complicated, the percussion still helps the whole piece expressed a complicated emotion. The mixing of the saxophones, trumpets and the energetic guitar solo showed the great techniques of the composition. The different timbres of these instruments are harmonious and comfortable. With the great techniques of the orchestration, the whole melody is very touching and beautiful.

After a brief intermission, the jazz ensemble I performed six jazz compositions. The overall stage arrangement of the second half is also different from the first half. For instance, the musicians of the jazz ensembles were divided into three rows. The first row is saxophone musicians, the second row is trombones and the third row is trumpets. There is also a conductor conducting the multiple parts. The musicians were dressed in black suits that bring people back to the early 20th century.

The ensemble performed a piece of powerful music to the audience. There is no vocal part in the ensemble, all the melody part was finished by the saxophones. The bass played the arpeggio as the accompaniment to rich the whole melody part. The brass part keeps on repeating the main melody and brings the whole music to the climax. The whole piece sounds very powerful and energetic.

Generally speaking, the whole concert performs some amazing pieces. I can still remember some of the melodies. Some of the pieces have shown the impressive techniques of the guitar and trumpet players. As a jazz lover, I can feel the passion of these young jazz composers. These jazz music pieces do not have the lyrics, but they expressed the rich emotion and feeling of the musicians. When I listen to these music pieces, I feel like I was watching someone’s inner world and listening to their stories. The whole concert has good performances and great musicians. I can still feel the power of jazz that these musicians showed to me.