Michael Sova

MUS 317: Evolution of Jazz and Rock

Concert Report 2

25 October 2019

Tuesday night, I attended a concert in Sheldon Hall of David Cook. Sheldon is not the

ideal place for a concert, due to the parallel walls, elevator next door, and flat floor, but it was

adequate for the performance. Although the music might have sounded a little better in a

different venue, I don’t believe it noticeably affected the performance. I was surprised that the

crowd wasn’t any bigger. It wasn’t an empty room by any means, but given that he is a

contemporary and jazz pianist and has performed with numerous famous musicians, I would

have guessed that it would have been packed. Overall, I thought the mix was good, but at the

very beginning of the concert, I thought the drums and saxophone were a little bit too loud.

The band performed modern small group jazz with a number of styles. There were

several ballads, some “pop” jazz, some smooth(ish) jazz, and some funk/blues pieces. To me, the

funk/blues piece (Long Ago and Far Away) sounded like a 12-bar blues form, except there

seemed to be lots of chord extensions and substitutions to make it more “jazzy.”

Within the music, I noticed a lot of piano comping when David Cook wasn’t soloing,

which makes sense, as the piano was the only instrument that could play chords. However, the

pianist also took several solos, during which the solo would outline the harmony while the bass

marked the chord changes. Unlike the last concert, the bassist did more than just play roots with

a walking bassline. When the bassist soloed, the other instrumentation would only be soft piano

and drums. The saxophonist also soloed and used the instrument to mimic vocals with pitch
bends sometimes. The drummer played lots of ride rhythms with snare, but the last song was

more of a funk/rock beat. Most of the music had shifting tonal centers while still being mostly

consonant. There was also lots of syncopation throughout the songs.

The music started before any pieces were introduced. The musicians communicated with

each other with mostly visual/nonverbal cues, although before each song, they would quickly

talk to each other to choose which song to play next, to hash out who was soloing when, and to

count the song off. After the first two songs, David Cook talked to the audience about the pieces

they had just played. He mentioned that the 2nd song, “Fresh Remnants,” was inspired by Fred

Hirsch. He then introduced the next piece, “Vine,” by mentioning the composer, who is a great

saxophonist in Brooklyn. After playing the song “Night Circle,” Cook mentioned that it was a

debut performance of the piece. He also said that the song “80s TV Theme Song” was originally

inspired by Keith Jarrett’s music, which he described as being simple songs with lots of improv.

However, after writing the piece, he thought it sounded more like an 80s TV theme, which is

how it got its name.

Towards the end of the concert, David Cook moved over to electric keyboard and

introduced Robert Auler on the piano. For these pieces, he used several different voices on the

electric keyboard, including organ, electric piano, and synth. The songs performed with both

pianists included “Tara Incognita,” which was written by Auler for his wife, and “Straight No

Chaser.”

I didn’t notice anything particularly innovative about the group, but I did notice several

influences. In terms of styles, I thought that the general sound of the group could be described as

small jazz and/or modern jazz because of the number of musicians and the shifting tonality and

complex rhythms/meters. For artist influences, Cook explicitly mentioned Fred Hirsch, saying
that he liked his style of music where it sounded like everybody was playing whatever they

wanted, but doing it together. I also thought that the song “Vine,” sounded like it was partially

influenced by Vince Guaraldi’s music.

My overall opinion of the group and the music was positive. The group seemed like it

was having fun, and I liked the pieces a lot. Specifically, I was a big fan of the opening piano

chords of “Vine,” the chord progression and drum beat of “80s TV Theme Song,” the key change

and pop-rock ballad-ish style of “Tara Incognita,” and all of “Long Ago and Far Away.” “Long

Ago and Far Away” was my favorite piece by far; I really enjoyed the dueling synth/piano parts

and the harder funk/rock/blues groove.