"The Big Band focuses more on arrangements and plays more classical pieces. They are more classical in the sense of the way the music sounds, and combos are smaller groups of musicians and the focus is more on improvisation," explained Brett Brehm '03, a pianist in the jazz combo.
The Big Band has twenty-one members, complete with its own pair of vocalists, while the combos have only seven or nine members each. Directed by Lecturer Bruce Diehl of the music department, the Big Band plays swing music spanning from the 1930s to the 1950s. "We play swing but also some more contemporary stuff," said Brehm. "In the Big Band, we're trying music that's not exactly traditional, but going in new directions rather than old swing."
The combos are also directed by Lecturer Diehl, but as smaller groups they provide more room for the musicians to exercise their creativity. "At the spirit of the moment we play a song, so every time we play it, it's different," Brehm noted. "It's just our ideas and whatever comes to us at the moment."
The Amherst Jazz groups, which are the only on-campus professional bands available for hire, are important learning experiences for their members. Diehl, who is teaching Jazz Theory, Improvisation II and the new Birth and Growth of Bebop this spring, also helps the band members to understand the theory and history behind the music. "Our director has actually been here a couple of years, but this is the first year he has complete control [so] he's new in some sense," Brehm said.
Amherst Jazz has recently performed at Mount Holyoke College and will be performing in two concerts at the end of the semester-the Big Band in Buckley Recital Hall and the combos in the Frontroom.
-Young May Cha