Student Jazz Sextet Will Play Weekly in Cleveland

Blues Connotation Plays Eloquently

There is an ecstasy in leaving Oberlin for an evening, of entering a world of creative and caring artists, of spending a cold night surrounded by music and friends. There is a particular pleasure that comes from being a part of a growing, exciting scene.

Oberlin's jazz sextet the Blues Connotation, who will perform this Sunday at 8 pm at the Cat in the Cream, played in Cleveland Thursday night ‹ as they will every Thursday ‹ where 20 Oberlin students helped them transform a dingy sports bar, with posters of the Cleveland Browns alongside display cases of assorted paraphernalia, into an exciting and warmly enthusiastic jazz environment. As senior bassist Zachariah Hickman said, the night demonstrated "a lot of what is good about jazz without a whole lot of what is bad."

As the night got progressively colder, the group got hotter, and the audience shifted from the occasional business couple in suits to carloads of Oberlin students who piled into over-sized wooden chairs, greeted each other with hugs and smiles, and sat up to listen to one of the finest groups of musicians to come out of our Conservatory.

Easily shifting between the musical styles of Horace Silver, Charles Mingus and originals of senior pianist and composer Ezra Weiss, Blues Connotation kept 6th Street Under, a basement bar in downtown Cleveland, packed and rolling throughout the night. "We are at a point," Weiss said in between the first and second sets, standing with straight legs and a cigarette in the suddenly cold fall air of downtown Cleveland, "that most bands stop playing."

It takes a moment to fully understand his implication. He was referring not to the amount of time the group has spent together, but to the level of playing. When groups reach the height of interactive communication the Blues Connotation has achieved, they often have trouble determining where to go next, how to expand, how to progress. But in this case, they are not stopping ‹ as Weiss said, "We're just starting out."

The group is just starting out together, to be sure, but the sextet is the combination of some of the best jazz musicians the Conservatory has seen in some time. Each has taken his instrument to a level of exciting facility, and their presentation is the result of an extensive amount of rehearsal time.

"The group decided last May to commit to two rehearsals a week and to be serious about it," Hickman said, "and it has made the difference."

The group sounded decidedly tight, with an exciting rhythm section of Hickman, whose touch on the bass is more or less a religious act, and senior drummer Jason Brown, whose musicality is matched only by his smile. Brown is not just extra-sensorally perceptive ‹ anticipating each musical expression ‹ but also exceedingly generous with his invariably tasty contributions. The two have been working together for more than two years, but only recently have they begun interacting on the higher level that now provides what must be something like the perfect wave upon which to ride for the three-horn front line.

The three who get to ride are sophomore trumpeter Peter Evans, whose lines are the most exciting thing since slip-and-slides in the summertime, senior tenor saxophonist Kelly Roberge, who has more energy than a jack-rabbit and whose solos makes you want to scream, and senior alto saxophonist Ian Cronin-Young, whose nimbly piercing tone cuts deep. They share the stage well, interacting with each other and reacting to the solos in the same way the audience does, with open eyes and something pushing at their bodies, making their souls itch, making them say "Ooh! Uh, damn!"

Weiss has been working for some time to reach this point with the group, and his dedication manifests itself in his work.

His arrangements and compositions are diverse and thoughtful. He uses exciting new feels on standards like "Moonlight in Vermont" and "Secret Love," and gives the heads energy by pitting the angular tone of Cronin-Young against the bright brass of Evans.

Weiss gets the audience riding a positively charged musical message of a laid-back funk with tunes like "Nutville" by Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock's "Wiggle-Waggle" and "Wayne's Thang" by Kenny Garrett, and his originals run deep; his composition "A Time for Healing" was the emotional climax of the night. His arrangements, always concise but with room for the sculpted expressions of each member, add an integrity to the group. They are meticulously prepared and artistically integral, as exploratory as they are creative.

Each member was able to find new avenues in old tunes, and they did not need an exceptionally long amount of time to make their individual statements count.

A particular pleasure that night was the Mingus composition, "Haitian Fight Song," which was interpreted laid-back in tempo as well as in feel. On this tune, everyone was able to stretch out, expanding into the space of the tune like a viscous liquid. Hickman was given room to provide insight through an extended introduction, searching his instrument integrally before laying down the Mingus groove, and the solos of Roberge and Evans kept the audience cringing with pleasure, and aching at the edge of their seats.

At the end of the evening, many audience members were able to join in a jam session that proved, for once, to be musically exciting and enjoyable, as vocalists, oboists, trumpeters, pianists and bassists left their seats to play "Straight No Chaser," "Bye-Bye Blackbird," and "I'll Remember April." Already burning, the night was taken out with the Blues Connotation setting their theme on fire, in an absurdly-paced and satisfactory climax to a very well-timed and pleasurable evening.

With a contract extended into November, Oberlin has ample opportunity to enjoy this scene, and to listen as well as join the jam session that follows the three-set night. and Blues Connotation has the opportunity to continue moving together. At their level, any move is exciting; this semester, we have the chance to witness it.

Blues Connotation appears at 6th Street Under (216-589-9313) Thursday nights from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. until the end of November.