Posted on behalf of Austin Tyner
It was a great personal pleasure to listen to the Rahsaan Barber/Jerald Shynette Quintet Monday evening in Moeser Auditorium, especially since it was my first time watching professional jazz musicians perform. The quintet consisted of Rahsaan Barber on saxophone, Jerald Shynette on trombone, Jason Foureman on bass, Dan Davis on the drums and Stephen Anderson on piano.
While the audience was mostly live along with the rhythm section onstage, both Barber and Shynette video chatted in from adjacent rooms in order to respect COVID-19 guidelines. The quintet performed a handful of pieces including multiple written by the members,which I thought was quite impressive, and finished with “Just in Time,” a “gold standard” according to Professor Anderson.
It was eye-opening to me not only to listen to the quintet play, but also to hear them speak about the pieces they were playing. Because at this point I still have a very limited knowledge of jazz, I am most familiar with big band and swing music, meaning that when I thought of jazz before it was equating jazz to entertainment and for dancing as swing music is known for.
I had thought that outside of swing, going to a jazz concert would be akin to going to the opera — too highbrow for me to understand somehow so I had not strayed far from what I knew.
“Leap of Faith” was not only wonderful to listen to as an original piece but in theme, it surprised me, because it wasn’t necessarily about dancing or having fun like swing, but more so about becoming a parent and having to learn to let go. That came across clearly in the very sweet-sounding general tone of the bittersweet trombone.
Rhythmically, my favorite piece of the evening was “Just in Time.” It was upbeat and made me want to swing dance and since I couldn’t do that, I did find myself nodding along and thinking to myself that it was a good piece to end the show with.
I enjoyed the music, I enjoyed the improvisation, and I enjoyed the visuals of the musicians closing their eyes or making focused faces and being able to tell they were enjoying themselves and getting into the rhythm. I was glad to have the opportunity to listen and to further my own understanding of jazz with such a multi-talented group.