By Chris Nafekh, Staff Writer

Published in print Apr. 1, 2015

The Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra came together this past Sunday for two performances at The Crown. The area’s finest jazz musicians, including UNC-Greensboro faculty and students, played the music of Herbie Hancock to commemorate the composer’s upcoming 75th birthday.

Hancock is a jazz musician and bandleader whose work has been influential since his beginnings. In the 1960’s he released several widely popular albums, including “The Prisoner”, “Maiden Voyage”, “Fat Albert Rotunda” and “The Prisoner”, an album inspired by the Civil Rights movement. Sunday night’s set list contained pieces from these albums; the orchestra focused on Herbie’s sounds of the ‘60’s.

“Herbie is a very prolific composer, but most of his original composing took place through the 1960’s,” commented Chad Eby, UNCG saxophone professor. “We decided to focus on the things that would adapt best for the big band.”

As the PTJO took the stage, it was noted that UNCG bass professor Steve Haines could not be present to perform due to his brand new baby boy born only two weeks ago. His understudy donned the double-bass with confidence, playing with perfection the whole night through.

Before the band began, Eby stood and acknowledged each orchestra section with a firm “ready?” Sound check ensued, papers ruffled on their stands and wind musicians wet their lips. Seconds later, The Crown vibrated with music.

One of the first songs played was Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”. The smooth, precise piano chords by Thomas Linger and elegant drum fills by Daniel Faust tied the tune together. Trumpet melodies painted a picture of a ship setting sail into space or sea, drifting into exploration the way performance solos explored new emotions with adventurous spirit.

Evan Ringel is a UNCG jazz student and trombonist who arranged Sunday night’s rendition of “Maiden Voyage”.

“Herbie Hancock is a true master of using voicings to create colors,” said Ringel.

“‘Maiden Voyage’ was challenging for me to arrange because it doesn’t have a lot of chords and in some ways that’s very freeing, but at the same time it’s hard to create interest harmonically.”

In Ringel’s freshman year he played in a quartet alongside Eby. Back then, making music beside university faculty was intimidating. But through improving his musicianship he has found a comfort in performing with professors.

“The PTJO is a great band,” commented Ringel.

“There are three or four students and the rest are professional musicians. But they’re all great people and great musicians, and you can’t really overstate that enough. I’ve never been treated with anything but warmth and kindness.”

Soon enough the orchestra played Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”. Atonal saxophone contrasted a rhythmic melody, and the music was soon groovy enough to dance to. An impressive horn solo from Dr. James Armstrong had band members smiling and nodding while the audience graciously applauded.

“Watermelon Man” was Herbie Hancock’s first big hit. After its wide success, he used royalties to pursue more experimental projects. In the late ‘70’s and ‘80’s, Hancock helped to pioneer jazz hip-hop by including synthesizers in his music. His mainstream hit “Rockit” off the album “Future Shock” broke musical boundaries; it was melodically interesting and popular among the ‘80’s youth.

“It’s funny,” laughed Eby, “I thought for a minute I would have Thomas and David learn the beginning of ‘Rockit’ to play when we counted off the first tune…”

Eby arranged multiple pieces featured Sunday evening. The band ended their first show with his rendition of “The Sorcerer,” a piece written by Hancock for Miles Davis. The piece was recorded on the B-side of Herbie’s “Speak Like a Child”, released in 1968. It was performed as a jazz trio with Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. However, “The Sorcerer” was also recorded two years prior while Herbie was still a part of the Miles Davis Quintet.

“There’s two standard versions of it,” explained Eby, “Miles’s version and Herbie’s version and they’re both slightly different. I decided to use Miles’s tempo and Herbie’s melody and chords. As far as adapting the piece for horns, it is a little tricky because the harmony is very different from lots of other tunes. The tricky part is trying to steal some voicings from Herbie’s piano playing and find interesting ways to score them throughout the horns.”

Every piece on the set list was originally arranged by a member of the PTJO. Each musician in the orchestra brought something original and wonderful to Sunday night, either through unique arrangements, stylistic nuances or captivating solos.

“There are really great musicians in Greensboro who want to play for you,” Eby said to the audience as they wound the night down. “So, I hope you continue to come see us.”