Swan songs of Jazz Coffeehouse for academic year supremely memorable
By EDDIE RUFF
Staff Writer
The Multi-Purpose Room of the Student Union was filled with toe-tapping jazz enthusiasts last Saturday night as CSUB enjoyed its last Jazz Coffeehouse of the school year.
In addition to performances by the “Ain’t No Thang ‘Resurrection’” and “Mother Funk Conspiracy,” Stacey Ericsson, Travis Smith and Jenny Maybee treated attendees to world premier interpretations of works.
A capacity crowd sat at candlelit tables, relaxing in the mellow glow as the sweet jazz flowed from the performers on the stage. Coffee was served, of course, as well as wine, bottled water, and even nachos.
“It’s a great end-of-the-year event, it maximizes the exposure of jazz in the community and here at Cal State,” commented business law instructor Leon R. Harris III between sets.
Workaday worries slipped away as “Ain’t No Thang” featuring Keith Hall on lead vocals and a five-horn front line turned in a fiery set. The rhythm section included Jarred Pope on drums and Glen Fong on bass.
The audience sat enthralled, bathing in the mellifluous vibrations courtesy of the Mac McClanahan arrangements.
The intimate setting of the Jazz Coffeehouse provided the perfect backdrop to enjoy Paul Perez and Dennis Hamm as they unveiled their newest incarnation as “Mother Funk Conspiracy”.
This combo included a bass and guitar duo from the coast as well as Jarred Pope again on drums, and each part could be heard clearly ringing through the Multi-Purpose Room.
The technical proficiency of these musicians provided a wonderful show, and their performance was truly a groove.
“I thought this was a wonderful mix of some of our alumni coming back and visiting the Coffeehouse,” jazz instructor Doug Davis said. “We had some wonderful guests from out of town.”
Ericsson, who performed a bit later in the evening, had this to say about MFC: “The Motherfunk, despite their foul name, they’re gonna bring back funk. You heard it here first.
“The energy was high, the drinks were good!” he gushed.
Davis joined some of his students on the stage, playing piano to round out the “Travis Smith Trio” also affectionately known as “The Not-Ready-For-Coffeehouse Combo”.
This was good jazz, massaging the brain, relaxing every cortical fiber, smoothing every wrinkle of the medulla, leaving the mind pink and fresh, ready to face the world again.
The evening’s delights had only just begun, however. Now the mood became more intimate as the audience was treated to world-premier performances of several student compositions.
“Take a chair next to you, put your feet up,” recommended Davis from the stage before this round.
Female jazz vocalist Jenny Maybee put forth a dazzling performance, bending and stretching notes with a breathy air that did justice to jazz greats of the past. One could almost picture the smoky speakeasies of the twenties as Kris Tiner’s muted trumpet notes danced and Maybee’s effervescent piano chords tumbled.
“I had fun,” Tiner shared after the show. “We put our set together two days ago, after writing the music this week, and it came together really well.”
Perspective vanished as the audience sat spellbound by the context-free jazz. New idea after new idea poured from the stage, with no guidelines and no boundaries to fetter the ear.
Listeners were instead free to explore the multi-dimensionality of the aesthetic mind without the everyday layers of form and fashion to encumber and muddy the thought processes.
As the performance closed and the applause filled the room, only then were the listeners snapped back to the mundane-ness of reality.
“It’s exciting to spend the time with people with a lot of talent, especially with Kris Tiner at the end, the different moods, the different tempos,” commented Mick O’Brien, a regular Coffeehouse attendee.
Ericsson agrees. “Jenny and Kris were the bomb. They’re the next Bonnie and Clyde of jazz!”
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Wednesday, June 9, 1999
2:16 PM