From the seats of the cozy Oremus Theater, distant sounds of New Orleans jazz drifted into the space as the Moraine Valley Jazz Combo casually strode in playing their first tune of the night.
The combo held its annual fall concert on Dec. 2, taking the audience to “Another Place,” per the theme of the performance. The two trumpeters, tubist and cow bell percussionist, along with combo director Mai Sugimoto on the saxophone, strolled into the black box theater while the two guitarists, pianist, bassist and drummer heralded them onto the stage.
Sugimoto, an experienced saxophonist, composer and educator, has led the combo for over a decade. Although similar in genre to the college’s jazz ensemble, the combo intentionally is smaller with a focus on improvisation, Sugimoto explained. While the group plays several pieces by various composers, musicians have an opportunity to express themselves within each piece through sometimes extensive and animated solos.
The 10-piece group, composed of students and community members (from software engineers to lawyers), transported the audience to “Barbados,” “Spain” and “St. Thomas” and gave listeners the “West Coast Blues” throughout the show. Harmonic chords strummed by guitarists Fernando Ramos and Rob Warnke during the latter piece felt like driving along the Big Sur with the windows down, wind whipping off the Pacific Ocean. Quick taps of the drums and cymbals (alternating between Jeremiah Dillard and Manuel Trevino) during “Barbados” had toes tapping and itching to find a dance floor.
In a fun play on words, the piece “Airegin” – Nigeria spelled backwards – involved the instruments “talking” to each other and trading lead voices, including the drums. It was hard to miss the wide grin of string bass player Kevin Lyver while he rapidly plucked the thick strings.
Although the combo players may change each semester, Sugimoto welcomes and accommodates all musicians and instruments. The tuba player, Szymon Kulik, was a new addition this fall, forcing Sugimoto to come up with new ways to incorporate a non-traditional jazz instrument into a jazz group. It worked; he successfully showed off his low brass chops with a couple of solos and lent to the bouncy New Orleans feel of the performance before the finale.
A lively short drum solo led to a jazzy rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” to which the musical minstrels eventually moseyed out the theater doors, leaving a smiling audience wishing for a beach and warm sunshine.
Don’t miss Jazz Combo’s spring concert on Tuesday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free.
