With a snap and a wave from director Rich Thompson’s hand,
The Eastman Jazz Band (or lab, as it was introduced) launched into a smooth and swingin’ send-up to Dizzy Gillespie at Max of Eastman
Place (excuse me, “Eastman School of Music Sproull
Atrium”) Monday night to an enthusiastic crowd.
The band was a force of around 20 members, with less onstage
as some in the rhythm section took turns. Despite the disparity in age — freshmen
to graduate students working on PHDs — the whole outfit was a pristine and
well-oiled machine as it worked its way around arrangements that got close to being
tagged “big band.”
That’s fine, except this group was
light on its feet as it stuck and moved, bobbed and weaved with a classic and
brassy wail. I could’ve stood to hear more of this collective wail as the set
only lasted a mere 40 minutes.
This article appears in Sep 18-24, 2013.
