CSUN faculty musicians performed a mix of jazz standards and original compositions for crowd brimming with students in Cypress Recital Hall Thursday night.
“It is essentially a jam session, but at a high level because they are faculty,” said Kyle Stephens, music department staff.
Each semester numerous music students perform in concerts. However, concerts designed for faculty are not as common. The Jazz Faculty Recital occurs once in the beginning of every semester.
“The recital is an opportunity for the jazz faculty to perform for students—faculty performance is useful in demonstrating our level of performance,” said Gary Pratt, music professor and co-director of jazz studies and one of the musicians at this recital.
The nearly ten musicians onstage were a mixture of full-time faculty and part-time staff.
The faculty split into groups to perform various jazz pieces.
Although the event is usually exclusive to faculty, the concert featured two special guest artists. Michael Ragonese, senior jazz studies major, and Brijesh Pandya, 2011 CSUN alumnus.
Before the recital began Ragonese and Pandya played meter music with CSUN Jazz faculty, Katisse Buckingham. Buckingham invited them to play the same form of odd metered jazz pieces on stage.
“Until recently, I used to get really nervous when I played with people who are on such a higher level than me. I would be really tense and that would hurt my sound,” said Pandya, “Playing with [these] guys is still a humbling experience for me, but now that I’ve let go of a lot of fear, I’m able to have a good time and enjoy the music that we create together.”
One of the prominent musicians Pandya shared the stage with is guitarists John Pisano. Pisano’s performance was welcomed onstage by Matt Harris, music professor and co-director of Jazz studies.Harris introduced Pisano as a historical figure in jazz books.
“Jazz is one of the few art forms that involves improvisation. Listening and playing with each other makes every performance different,” said Harris.
The audience cheered and clapped in the middle of songs when a musician played a complex piece of music or began to improvise. Students heads were bobbing, shoulders swaying, and feet were tapping to the music.
CSUN student Tiffany Lantello, junior music media composition major, said she was interested in seeing her first jazz faculty performance after hearing good things about the jazz program.
“Jazz is one of the most competitive fields,” said Lantello. “People want to be in this Jazz program.”
The names of the faculty that performed are as follows:
Howie Shear – Trumpet
Darek Oles – Double Bass
John Pisano – Guitar
Rob Lockart – Saxophone
Gary Fukushima – Piano
Matt Harris – Piano
Gene Coye – Drums
Katisse Buckingham – Saxophone
Nick Mancini – Vibraphone
Gary Pratt – Double Bass
