Alongside Grammy award-winning saxophonist, composer and producer Joe Lovano, the Brown Jazz Band guided audience members through an evening of music, history and the collective joy of performance this past Friday.
Hosted in the Salomon Center De Ciccio Family Auditorium, the 37th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert was directed by Ed Tomassi, a professor at the Berklee School of Music and a teaching associate at Brown. In an onstage discussion prior to the concert, Lovano, Tomassi and Timo Vollbrecht — Brown’s director of jazz studies and the leader of the Brown Jazz Band — discussed the depth of jazz music and their experiences in the music community.
To start the concert, members of the Brown Jazz Band took the stage in front of a dreamy backdrop: a black curtain adorned with glowing blue and silver stars. They were greeted by an enthusiastic full house.
They began the set with the song “Second Race.” Throughout the piece, the ensemble behind the handful of trumpet and saxophone soloists stole the audience’s attention with their visible passion and dedication to the music. The musicians could be seen bobbing their heads, beaming as their peers stood up for solos and subtly swaying and dancing to the invigorating rhythms.
Accompanying the band for many of the remaining pieces, Lovano’s performance on Friday night demonstrated why he has won so many awards throughout his career.
Now a guest lecturer at New York University, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Lovano won a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for his studio album “52nd Street Themes” in 2000. Throughout his career, he has received a total of 14 Grammy nominations.
“In every art form, there’s imitation, and then assimilation — the third step is innovation,” Tomassi noted before the concert. Lovano, he said, has practiced that third step.
Later, vocalists Lizzy Steeves ’25 and Christine Alcindor ’25 joined the band with their beautiful, effortless riffs and performances. The two offered an interesting and refreshing change-up in the set, allowing audience members to truly hear the breadth and varying styles that jazz has to offer.
Toward the end of the evening, Lovano again called out the “amazing ensemble,” and the crowd roared in agreement.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you — how about that band!” Lovano cheered while gesturing to the student performers on stage.
