The Moores School of Music jazz department has overcome hurdles within the past ten years.
It has made the transition from what was once a jazz orchestra and ensemble desperately lacking any sense of direction to a highly reputable, truly dynamic group of student musicans.
And jazz ensembles director Noe Marmolejo has been with the students every step of the way.
"The quality of the band here at UH has been really good for the last eight, 10 years, but it’s taken a long time. When I first got here it was just the worst. It was awful. Nobody liked it. Nobody respected it," Marmolejo said.
For Marmolejo, who began teaching at the school in 1985, taking the jazz band from the ground up wasn’t an easy task.
"I can remember the first years that we did concerts when the jazz band wasn’t even the size of this one. There were times when we would do concerts and there would be more people on the stage than there were out in the audience," he said.
Throughout the years, Marmolejo’s passion for jazz has enabled him to gradually work the department up to the standard of being recognized as a viable part of a full-spectrum music program.
"Jazz is a great, artistic and expressive style of music," Marmolejo said.
With his current jazz group, which will perform its first concert of the year at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Moores Opera House, Marmolejo believes that its success relies heavily on the students’ solid level of musicianship.
"The majority of the players in this band aren’t jazz players, either. They’re just good players. It’s a testament to their skills as musicians that they’re able to cross from the classical realm to move into this realm of playing jazz," Marmolejo said.
Within the frame of one jazz arrangement, the sounds, rhythms and styles are ever-changing. This is one of many challenges that jazz music poses to any given musician.
"The problem with playing in a jazz band is you have to be able to switch gears," Marmolejo said. "For a full-blown concert jazz band, you’re going to have to be switched from one tune to the next, from one style, from Latin to ballads to fast straight ahead to medium straight ahead to blues to funk to rock."
Improvisation is yet another element that makes jazz a demanding and interesting genre. And for the current jazz orchestra and ensemble, it’s an element that makes jazz performance even more fruitful.
For pianist Joel Love, a first-year composition masters student who will perform two solos, it’s the room for collaboration and communication that makes playing jazz more rewarding.
"There’s something about swinging. It’s a lot more playful. I get the task of composing something on the spot, so it makes my brain a lot sharper, and it’s a lot more of a challenge," Love said.
The Jazz Orchestra will perform eight arrangements for tonight’s performance, and the Jazz Ensemble will perform four pieces. The arrangements dabble in an array of jazz styles ranging from traditional, bebop and Latin-influenced to more modern takes.
"We always get a wide variety of jazz, and (Marmolejo) likes to push the spectrum of what people might be comfortable with," music perfomance senior Henry Darragh said.
For Darragh, a trombonist and pianist, the experience of being part of the jazz orchestra is a rewarding one.
"I love being in this band. We always do different things, and it’s challenging. I think it’s a good draw for certain students. A lot of people are interested in jazz, and fortunately our department’s growing," he said.
The Moores School of Music Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble will take the stage to perform twelve pieces at 7:30 p.m today at the Moores Opera House.
Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. For more information, call (713) 743-3307.
