Butler County Symphony Orchestra explores melting pot of jazz
The Butler County Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “A Jazz Odyssey” takes listeners around the world from the roaring nightclubs of Harlem to the elegant ballrooms of the Soviet Union combining big-band jazz with classical symphonic tones.
Performed Saturday night, Nov. 1, at Butler Intermediate High School, the symphony orchestra’s odyssey begins with Duke Ellington’s take on the Harlem bustle with jazz staples — solos, swing and style.
It’s bold swing contrasts with Soviet-era composer Dimitri Shostakovich’s more waltz-style jazz, which challenges listeners to pick out the elements of American jazz inspiration in his work.
After a brief intermission to the two-hour concert, the symphony orchestra subverts expectations with French composer Darius Milhaud’s take on jazz, which offers a much more melancholic view of Harlem than Ellington. But, the orchestra completes the odyssey with Ellington’s view on everyday life and Black identity in Harlem.
The symphony orchestra’s Harlem opener knows what jazz does — keeps the listener guessing and grooving. The buildup into the introduction and a few brief solos dives into a tour through Harlem with fast, rhythmic intention and broad dynamic range that goes back and forth between the serenity of looking out a bus window to the chaos of dodging traffic.
The listener then feels like they’re walking into a Harlem jazz club with more quick notation and swing. The viewer doesn’t need to listen hard to find the intense accent points as violinist bows freeze high in the air.
When switching to perform Shostakovich’s “Suite for Variety Orchestra,” commonly mistaken for “Jazz Suite Number 2,” the listener can tell he wasn’t born into the American jazz sphere. The suite is a compilation of march, dance and waltz movements with added jazz elements to Shostakovich’s broad musical range.
The symphonic orchestra executes, with ease, Shostakovich’s call-and-response jazz elements between the orchestra’s string and brass sections that feels like an engaged conversation. The violins also shine in the more elegant ballroom-feel that favors waltz over swing.
Conductor Moon Doh then tells the audience to prepare for a night in Paris with Milhaud’s “The Creation of the World” — but Doh doesn’t say where in Paris. The suite’s haunting melancholy feels less like the top of the Eiffel Tower and more like the depths of the catacombs.
But it turns out, that was just Milhaud’s view of Harlem.
The suite also utilizes an 18-member orchestra for a more intimate feel with exposed soloists before it hastens the tempo with quick notation and lots of percussion until violins and french horns bring it back down.
The symphony orchestra closed with an abbreviated version of Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige.” The piece portrays everyday life with hints of Black identity in slavery and emancipation.
The piece takes listeners back to the traditional jazz feel with a confident, groovy back beat into swing with a big finish.
Doh’s dancing on the conductor podium throughout the piece makes listeners want to jump up there with him.
The dynamic range of the piece keeps listeners guessing with the calmness of going to church or coming home from work to dinner and the excitement of getting up to Harlem mischief.
A Jazz Odyssey combines the American take on jazz with the elegance of ballroom dancing and romantic evenings to create a night to remember for all ages.
