The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers performed in "Beats and Bebop," a concert it presented jointly with the Sunday Jazz Ensemble in Lowell Lecture Hall over the weekend.

BEATS AND BEBOP
LOCATION: Lowell Lecture Hall
DATE: Nov. 12
PRESENTED BY: The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers and the Sunday Jazz Ensemble

Although “Beats and Bepop” was nominally a joint presentation by The Sunday Jazz Ensemble (SJE) and The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers (THUD), it was, effectively, a night of two concerts with remarkably different musical approaches. Only a final piece by the SJE included collaboration with THUD as percussionists,

The SJE began with “Seven Steps to Heaven.” Assistant Director of Bands at Harvard University and SJE conductor Mark E. Olson, energetic and thoughtful, admirably led to allow the musicians the spotlight, letting their talent shine through.

Noah L. Nathan ’09 stole the show with solo after solo on his alto saxophone, particularly during his exceptional performance in “Samba Dubois,” when he easily whistled a smooth sound and complex melody.

Energetic and infectiously enthusiastic in their band-wide performances, SJE members also demonstrated a shining improvisational creativity in their solos, which were impressively performed by Nathan, drummer Christopher M. Krogslund ’09, and guitarist Neil K. Sawhney ’08, among others.

SJE’s final piece, “Manteca,” began with an interesting, introduction by THUD. SJE crept into the piece slowly, instrument by instrument, and the performance then rather suddenly crescendoed and swung into an upbeat, rhythmically fast-paced piece. The unexpected upswing thrillingly caught audiences off guard. After this performance was met with wild applause, there was a brief intermission to allow THUD to set up.

Unlike SJE, THUD is a student-directed musical troupe by led by co-directors Danielle R. Lehle ’07 and Sonali Palchaudhuri ’07. Palchaudhuri initiated the THUD performance in the same way, she said, that all THUD performances begin—by having the audience perform. Dividing up and assigning each audience section an instrument, Palchaudhuri led each one in playing various rhythms before having the whole audience synthesize their performances. With the audience’s rhythms in the background, the THUD performers filed onto stage, completing the interactive musical piece with their own parts. The THUD interaction with the audience not only engaged it but also served as a creative way to exploit the audience’s inevitable clapping to benefit the entire musical piece.

The most memorable and melodic piece was Mark H. Ford’s “Selections” from Polaris, played by Lehle on the xylophone using four mallets. As she played, gasps were heard again and again from the audience as the graceful movements combined with the cool and watery sound to create a sonic ballet.

The concert certainly displayed a remarkable level of talents among Harvard students, but their differing talents styles should have been showcased in two separate concerts. Other than “Manteca,” there seemed to be no connection between THUD and SJE. It became almost overwhelming to sit through both concerts with their contrasting complexities.

Indeed, after the upbeat jazz of SJE, it seemed almost unfair that THUD served as dessert, since the musical appreciation required for the less mainstream THUD is so different.