Small Theater in Green Bay
Many people look for great entertainment such as music concerts, plays, or movies every weekend because this is a way for fatigued persons, struggling in life, to eliminate their stresses. Although there are a lot of choices, music concerts are the most active and powerful performances among them because these are always performed live. Even though live concerts are incredible, there are limited performances in small cities such as Green Bay and De Pere. Recently, one of the great jazz concerts was held by Small Theater on May 21, 2004, which is located on the east side of Green Bay. Small Theater is a private place, and everyone who is interested in and loves music are welcome to join and enjoy the great performances, but most audiences are older adults. The performer in the last jazz concert was the Roy Dunlap Group that combined a pianist, a saxophonist, a bassist, and a drummer; they played fabulous jazz music for 2 hours.
Without any introductions from the performers, they performed one of their pieces first. This was the way the audience was invited to the group’s jazz world. As they played the first song, the pianist led first moving slow and then went fast with high notes. Meantime, other performers supported the pianist as members of the rhythm section. For example, the string bass sound was only one beat like a walking style, which was more like swinging, and the drummer played a snare drum and a high-hat with sticks to control the rhythm of the music; he rarely used the crash cymbal. At the same time, the saxophonist was standing on the out side of the stage and kept looking at another performer. Later on, each performer had their own solo part as if they were introducing each member to the audiences. In this moment, the audiences were able to identify that it was Chicago jazz style. Like the first music, the following tune also had a lilt and swinging rhythm, which made audiences easily explore the jazz world with its provocative rhythms. The pianist led the whole sound again with its own improvisation that usually used high notes rather than using low notes, and then other performers stopped playing while the pianist was solo. After the solo sound, the saxophonist took a solo part with the bass sound. The bass sound was simple and easy to listen to the tunes, because the bassist played one beat style. Many people could not hear what kind of sounds the bassist was playing unless he was playing a solo. This was a completely different sound compared with an electronic bass guitar, which is familiar to the audience. It was a dark tone with a little vibration after stringing the cello as if a person dropped a basketball in an empty gym; then one is able to hear dung sounds from walls. After the bass solo part, the saxophonist led all compositions, and then finished all together at the same time.
Jazz music gave the audiences a lot of different feelings such as sorrow and joy while the performers were playing. The beginning of two tunes had fast tempos and made the audience dance or tap with their feet. However, the third music, called After Ever, represented how emotional jazz is. There were many soft jazz songs, but After Ever could not be better. The soft and tender solo piano sound opened the third song first. After 16 measures, the saxophonist led all compositions. It was very smooth, and the melody of the saxophone sound went up with high tones and slowed down smoothly. It definitely showed the tension and impact it made on the audience. Later on, the pianist played alone with very soft and pretty sounds as if a water drop was running on a silver plate. Eventually, the saxophone player led all members and the piano sound was just for harmony. The performance finished with very pretty sounds, and then all the audience members said, “It’s so sweet” with clapping and cheering.
The drum is a magic box for making sounds. The different drumming technique made a very different harmony for each piece. When the drummer started the next song, the drum player held the middle of sticks and hit the edge of the snare drum, and then it made the sound like tu-tu-tu-tu, which was the main rhythm for the fourth music. As usual, the saxophonist with melody led the sound, and was getting faster and faster. Meanwhile, there was a two-beat sound from the piano. When each member was playing a solo part, the other members looked at the soloist, or the saxophonist sometimes moved to the right side of the stage while another member was playing alone. After each member’s solo, the drummer used mallets by holding them each between two fingers, and surrounding the ride cymbal with one mallet above and one below. Then he made a sharp horn sound from the ride cymbal by shaking his left hand with the mallets. At the end of the music, the drummer made the tu-tu-tu-tu sound again with the bassist, and then it suddenly finished.
Although the place was not a real stage in a theater, there were not many people in the theater, the Roy Dunlap Group made their performance more realistic and understandable than many of the bigger stars, who are well known. They performed jazz music like it was played during the initial jazz era. They did not care how many audience members were present. They performed jazz because they loved it and there were at least a few audience members who desired to listen to it. Their love for jazz music is the same reason why African Americans wanted to struggle as unknown jazz musicians in the past. For love of jazz, the small jazz concert in town was gradually closed at peaceful night.
written by Sangik Jung
More info:
Web site:Small Theater
Email : smalltheater@27feet.com