Lincoln College Contemporary Jazz Studies hosts a night of great music at the Lincoln Arts Institute

 

[April 13, 2021] 

On Friday evening the Lincoln College Contemporary Jazz Studies program hosted a night of entertainment at the Lincoln Arts Institute. It was a wonderful evening filled with instrumental and vocal performances by the students.

Music included some traditional jazz music as well as original pieces written by the students.

Dr. Denise La Grassa, Lead Faculty, Contemporary Jazz Studies at LC kicked off the evening, welcoming guests and talking about what the evening would offer. She encouraged guests to take advantage of food and drink being offered in the next room.

While the event featured the students of the Jazz program, she also encouraged audience involvement saying there was plenty of opportunity for anyone who wanted to come up and offer a poem, special reading, a song, or whatever they felt led to do.

The evening’s entertainment then began with a traditional jazz instrumental entitled “Green Onions.”

Kattie Benson delivered a beautiful vocal rendition of “(I Would Do) Anything For You," with Sami Pod switching from Saxophone to flute for the performance. Benson would return on a few more occasions offering vocals with Alec Timm and again with Sami Pod, Dajuan Stewart and Jayde Hull.

The group performed an original composition written by Nicholas Cunningham entitled “In the courtroom,” which will be featured in a future film.

Dajuan Stewart wowed the audience with a vocal and electric keyboard piece he wrote and sang entitled “Dear Diary.”

After the students had performed for just over 30 minutes it was time for a break.

Dr. Saint Rice, Associate Professor, Criminal Justice, Chair of ABIDE Committee acknowledged the hosts for the evening Jason Hoffman and Marcia Cook of the Lincoln Arts Institute. Dr. Rice encouraged guests to appreciate the art that was on display and noted that many of the pieces were for sale, so if someone saw something they loved they should talk to Jason or Marcia about taking it home.

He then acknowledged that there were several members of the Lincoln College staff on hand and asked all to stand up for a round of applause.

Rice then introduced the guest speaker Barbara Allen of Chicago. Allen is an award winning filmmaker whose work has encompassed a wide spectrum of topics.

Allen spoke briefly about the value of music in film. She complemented the jazz ensemble on their performances and said music is a transporter that can take us so many places.

She said all the arts are involved in what she does as a filmmaker. From costumes, to scenes, to script to music all come together to make a wonderful end product. She said when all those components don’t come together, a film will “fall flat” and it won’t work.

She said that in many cases in the filmmaking process, a composer will come into the project after it is mostly completed. He or she is then expected to match the music to the mood and tempo of the script and the scenes.

She said that she works just the opposite, letting the music guide the direction of the film. She can put the film together better when she has the music to guide her and drive the direction of the production.

Allen remembered a time when that she went to her composer and she did not share the script with him. Instead she told him stories of the people who had inspired the film, about their lives and circumstances. He then wrote some amazing music. When the composer played the theme song for the film, “it touched me so much, I began to weep.” Allen said the music touched her so deeply and it was so perfect for the direction she wanted her film to take.

Allen played the music for one of her production assistants as they were driving in the car. During the song, the assistant was saying nothing. Allen said for a moment she was second guessing herself as to how perfect the music was, then as she turned to look at the assistant, Allen noted that she too was weeping. It was so perfect and beautiful.

Allen concluded with a message directed to the performing students. “Thank you! With the year we have been through we need something, we need healing; just as the doctors and the medical people who we love and appreciate for all they have done. Just as they are healing our bodies, you are healing our souls and that is what we need.”

When Allen had finished, Rice returned and noted that we are in a place where that we all need to come together, “put aside all the differences of race and gender and sexual orientation and just come together. As Ms. Allen stated, it is a time for healing. We need to look at our neighbors and say ‘You are not my enemy, you are actually my friend.’ When we come together we bring together the expression of our views, our thoughts what we see is our heart, our human heart that we all bring our individuality together and all the sudden it becomes beautiful.”

Rice concluded that he was moved to sing. He began singing “Lean on Me,” and soon the entire room joined in singing and clapping the rhythm of the song.

Afterward, the ensemble came back for more music and the invitation for anyone who wanted to perform to come up to the mic at will.

It was also very nice for those attending. Throughout the evening the seating capacity inside the gallery was monitored and the overflow stayed outside in the porch area of the building.

Folks felt free to come and go and as people would exit the building, others would be invited to come inside and take their place. Face masks were required for the audience, and even the ensemble wore masks when not singing or playing a wind instrument.

After the event, LaGrasse said she was very excited about the way the evening had gone. As a member of the ABIDE Committee also, she felt that it was important for the students to get off campus for the evening and allow them to get a “taste of Lincoln.”

LaGrasse said, “I thought it would be nice to hold our National Jazz and Poetry Appreciate event off campus to give our students a taste of Lincoln while performing new compositions in the newly renovated Lincoln Art Museum.”

[Nila Smith]