Cal Poly Jazz Ensembles will perform their Fall Jazz Concert in Spanos Theater on Friday Nov. 17.
The concert will kick off the season featuring the musical talents of the University Jazz Band, the Jazz Combos and the Vocal Jazz Ensembles.
This quarter’s performance will showcase vocal jazz arrangements, samba arrangements, big band and combos performances and acapella arrangements.
All the performances include students from the instructional jazz courses at Cal Poly, and represent the skills learned over the course of the quarter. This quarter’s performance also includes student-composed pieces to display the independent work of the Jazz students’ repertoire.
When discussing her experience with Cal Poly Jazz Ensemble, music junior Marina Lepe said she feels really “involved in the music and the ensemble itself” because of what she’s learned about her instrument and music as a whole.
Lepe has played the trombone in jazz ensembles since high school, and has developed her skills through her experience with Cal Poly Jazz Ensembles. She said it has allowed her to become more comfortable with performing at a collegiate level, and she has learned a lot about what jazz performance really entails.
“Improvisation is a really big part of this musical style,” Lepe said. “A lot of people think it’s purely from your brain, but right at the moment, you really just have to make it up.”
The location also influences the performance, according to Lepe. In a smaller theater like Spanos, she says “you feel more connected with your audience, and it’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re performers on the stage, and you’re just somebody in the audience.’”
The Jazz Ensemble puts on a performance every quarter and welcomes all students and faculty who want to learn more about jazz. Lepe said that for those who don’t know anything about attending a jazz performance, “there’s this culture of you clap and cheer for anything you like to hear,” and applauding during the performance is encouraged.
Concert tickets are $20 for the public and $10 for students and members of the San Luis Obispo Jazz Federation. Tickets are available at the Cal Poly Ticket Office between 12 and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.