Chicago College of Performing Arts' Vivid '10

During a high-stress work week, there is nothing quite like letting the pressure dissolve away on the strains of a little Tuesday night jazz. This particular Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending Vivid ’10, a series of performances by the Chicago College of Performing Arts, which included both jazz and musical theatre. Surprisingly, this fabulous concert was free to the general public (thanks to some serious contributions by supporters of the school), and I’d by lying if I said I was anything but blown away by these students.

At first, I had a little trouble reconciling the setting with the content: while I love Auditorium Theatre (Roosevelt University's theatre, and the venue for Vivid), somehow it just seemed incongruous to hear jazz there. A huge theatre lacks that intimacy of the cozy jazz club, where the music completely envelopes you, scoops you up, and takes you away. In a club, the music literally reverberates right through you because the musicians are right there with you, performing only feet away. You can move in your chair, bob your head, and no one thinks twice about it, because, well, it’s just impossible to sit still! But at Auditorium Theatre there’s this air of formality that’s so counter to the casual jazz scene.

I certainly felt this way as we listened to the Swing and Hard Bop selections opening the program. I felt too far away and restricted. This was definitely bob-your-head music, but when I looked around, everyone was still (I was still subtly jammin in my seat, regardless, but it was a little uncomfortable). The Swing performers impressed me immediately. It was shocking to me that these were college students, but then again, if you understand the jazz history at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, not to mention the talent of the faculty, then you know not to expect anything but the best from these “kids.” Angelo Hart, the first of the night’s pianists, enthralled me, despite the fact that his solo time seemed to be much less than the saxophonists (isn’t this always the case, though? Oh, those saxophonists…). Honestly, I’m always saying that bass is my favorite jazz instrument, in large part because I feel like bass is so underappreciated yet so integral to the music, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for pianists, thanks to my mother. Plus, when I watch and even meet jazz musicians, the pianists always seem to have so much heart, so much personality—I swear they’re always smiling.

After Swing, we moved into Hard Bop. Head of Jazz and Contemporary Music Studies Paul Wertico was narrating the event, by the way, providing a succinct history of the jazz movements we were viewing, which I highly appreciated. I’m all over the Hard Bop, and Adam Rongo did an amazing job on the alto sax. I have a difficult time calling out any one musician over the other in this program, as they were all stellar, but I have to admit that the saxophonists throughout the night were highly impressive.

When we finally got into the ECM pieces, the venue made sense. The sound filled up the entire auditorium, with Danny Markovich’s sexy echoing sax engulfing the house. I immediately had goose bumps, as I often do when listening to/viewing great art. Big sound needs a big auditorium, so the setting finally made sense.

Of course, moving into the Avant-Garde selections, I had to guard my ears. Literally. I just can’t do it. There’s just too much sound, it’s too cacophonous. I mean, there’s more order to it than that, but still. They did “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down,” and I pretty much checked out. I thought, um, can we go back to earlier Miles, please? I tried, I really did, but it’s just too much.

So, after intermission, when we were treated to a big band ensemble, I was feeling much more comfortable. Regrettably, I couldn’t stay for the entire show. However, when the program broke off into selections from Sweet Charity, I felt a bit out of my realm anyhow (btw, of course the venue was perfect for the musical theatre selections, too). So, having lost myself in more than an hour of foot-tapping, goose-bumping jazz, I snuck out of the auditorium and enjoyed a quiet stroll downtown to the El. And I had completely forgotten about work.