Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Arts & Culture

Media Credit: Marina White ‘11

Media Credit: Marina White ‘11 (Above) With several performers wearing costumes, the PHAT Police performance captured a taste of Halloween night. (Below) The audience applauds a wonderful performance by the Jazz Ensemble.

On Halloween night, Wheaton's Jazz Ensemble performed the music of Herbie Hancock for their Fall semester show.

The night was kicked off by a guest performance by Wheaton's own guitar ensemble The PHAT Police, who were introduced by their Director, Professor Jeffery Cashen. The Band consisted of Sam Von Ehren '10, Tom Norton '09, Jon Phillips '10, Brian Race '10, and Sam Wetterau '09.

Following the guitar ensemble was the main event. The Jazz ensemble was introduced by their instructor, Professor Rick Britto, who explained the background of Herbie Hancock. According to Britto, Hancock was part of the Second Miles Davis Quintet and became known as "the father of fusion music." Britto explained that fusion is a combination of R & B, Jazz, and Soul music.

The repertoire of the performance consisted of selections such as Cantelope Island and Watermelon Man. Before each piece, Britto gave a brief background behind the next to be played, such as the rebirth of the blue note from Cantelope Island, and "the constant switching of one style of music to another," (i.e. waltz to folk), in Chameleon.

The audience also enjoyed the performance of the vocalist division of the ensemble, with each member singing a solo piece.

During this performance, the rhythm section "comped," a jazz term meaning to support a solo with intermittently spaced chords. Rachael Rees '11 sang Sophisticated Ladies, which Britto noted was a very difficult piece to sing, and Lauren Henderson '09 sung Love for Sale, which Britto mentioned was banned in 1947 for it's explicit content.

This Halloween night proved to be a wonderful glance into the fascinating musical stylings of Herbie Hancock.

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