The Free Bridge Quintet played -- and even sang -- their hearts out Saturday night in Old Cabell Hall at a concert celebrating the sultry, swanky and soulful New Orleans jazz.
The faculty jazz quintet, featuring John D'earth on trumpet, Jeff Decker on saxophone and clarinet, Pete Spaar on bass, Robert Jospé on drums and Bob Hallahan on piano, set a playful mood for the evening with upbeat, well-known tunes by famous musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Scott Joplin. The danceable New Orleans funk tunes performed in the second half of the program had the audience cheering, clapping and singing along.
At the start of the first set, John D'earth explained that the Free Bridge Quintet's reason for performing was both obvious and timely. Due to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the band felt compelled to study and perform the music of the city.
"We need to affirm New Orleans, we need to affirm where this great music came from," D'earth said.
For Pete Spaar, whose family comes from New Orleans, the performance was very personal. Near the end of the concert, he called on the audience to reach out and support the devastated New Orleans by whatever means possible and urged them to not forget the city.
"The city needs us now more than ever," Spaar said. "[Support New Orleans] monetarily, voluntarily ... go out and spend some money down there."
He added that while the event was held to keep the city and its desperate situation in the forefront of peoples' minds, it was also a chance to play great music and celebrate the talent and style of the South's great musicians.
Spaar was so passionate about the event that he volunteered to make his Old Cabell singing debut as a soloist in The Meters' "Iko Iko" and with the quintet in "Go to the Mardi Gras," by Professor Longhair and The Four Hairs. The surprise singing by the group -- which was also their first attempt at vocals in their biannual University concerts -- lit up the faces of audience members.
The singing was just one of the impressive aspects of the evening. Spaar also performed "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans," by Louis Atler and Eddie DeLange, as a bass solo, adding a bar of "When the Saints Go Marching In," which the band would reprise later as their encore. At the end of the performance Spaar switched from an upright, acoustic bass to an electric bass to express the modern, groovy feeling of the last three pieces by The Meters.
Jeff Decker wowed the audience with his display of reeds, including five saxophones and a clarinet, and with his virtuosic, face-melting solos.
Bob Hallahan transcribed and arranged Jelly Roll Morton's piano solo, "New Orleans Blues/Joys," for the entire ensemble.
Robert Jospé supplied the funky, foot-tapping rhythms and frequently led the audience in clapping while John D'earth blasted out his trumpet melodies with a celebrated New Orleans flair.
The Free Bridge Quintet, which was formed in 1997, performs the straight-ahead style of jazz, which Decker and Spaar described as more structured than free jazz. Free jazz is what Spaar referred to as "avant garde" or experimental and has no explicit boundaries but allows the musicians complete freedom in composing their piece. Straight-ahead jazz has determined boundaries for meter, tempo and harmony. Each member has an understanding of the song structure and form. The style allows for freedom of improvisation but only within the confines of a particular format which the group adheres to. Due to the improvisation in both styles, however, a jazz piece can sound significantly different every time it's performed.
Saturday's performance featured all straight-ahead numbers not only because it is the style the band usually performs but because they did not play any original compositions.
"We all brought in our own ideas [for this program]," Decker said.
He also explained that they agreed to play pieces representing the great bands of New Orleans, such as Louis Armstrong's band Hot Five. Decker asked the group to perform pieces by Sidney Bechet, whom he considers a very important and influential soprano saxophone performer. He also noted that the band wanted to perform songs not only by musicians from New Orleans but songs about New Orleans, including John Coltrane's Bechet tribute, "Blues to Bechet," and Charles Mingus' Jelly Roll tribute, "Jelly Roll."
As the band finished its last piece, "Hey Pocky A-Way" by The Meters, the audience cheered and rose in a standing ovation. One man shouted, "You could play this stuff all night!"
The group rejoined on stage to perform the quintessential New Orleans jazz tune, "When the Saints Go Marching In." At the end of the song, Hallahan stood up, picked up a pair of shakers and started walking towards the exit. The rest of the group fell in line, forming their very own marching band of saints, with Decker and D'earth continuing to play their horns. Their exit was followed with more shouts and applause from the audience.
Spaar noted that the response from the audience Saturday was more emotional than responses to their other concerts, due to the tragedy and also love of the great tunes of the city. As they were leaving for the night, Decker stopped Spaar and told him that a man from New Orleans told him their performance brought tears to his eyes.
The Free Bridge Quintet's concert was a mixture of joy and sorrow, a celebration of the culture and music of New Orleans combined with a solemn plea for people to help rebuild the city and support its citizens. The show was a jazzy part of the nation-wide effort to bring aid to the South and prevent the memory of one of the great cultural centers of the country from fading away.
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