Hillsdale College students and faculty helped fill the air of Albion College’s chapel with music Feb. 25 at the first annual Liberal Arts Jazz Festival.
Senior jazz singer Erin O’Luanaigh and senior drummer Alexander Cothran both walked away with Outstanding Soloist awards.
“It was very humbling, and honestly quite a surprise,” Cothran said. “I didn’t feel as though I had played particularly well that day, but apparently the adjudicators felt differently.”
The jazz fest clinicians honored only four students with outstanding awards. The two other award recipients were both from Adrian College.
As part of their awards, O’Luanaigh and Cothran played with the professionals in a concert Saturday night after dinner. The Hillcats played “Blue Monk,” a standard jazz tune, with the clinicians and the awarded students, O’Luanaigh said.
“It was an outstanding concert,” Teacher of Music Chris McCourry said.
The group “traded 4s,” a standard improvisation technique where musicians take turns improvising four-measure-long solos.
“It’s a conversation through jazz,” O’Luanaigh said.
Earlier in the day, student bands and combos performed in clinics. Clinics lasted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three clinicians — Jonathon Gewirtz, David Jensen, and Jim Rupp — gave constructive comments and advice after each group finished playing.
“Their comments were really insightful and helpful,” O’Luanaigh said. “I’m anxious to apply what they said to my singing.”
In addition to the clinics, the professional musicians offered master classes, giving individual attention to each student.
“I have been to the high-profile University of Michigan jazz festival twice now and have never really enjoyed it,” Cothran said. “I had a much better time at the Liberal Arts Jazz Festival, and I feel as though I’ve learned much more from it.”
Even with the success of the festival this year, there is still room for improvement.
“Next year, I’d like to see even more bands there from local colleges,” O’Luanaigh said.
Cothran said the festival ran smoothly. Though he said he did not see any glaring problems that were not attributed to a brand new event, he would have liked the scheduling to have worked out differently.
“Some of the scheduling was a little unfortunate, as there were times that I was playing in one location when a band I wanted to hear was playing in another,” Cothran said. “Such things are generally unavoidable when you’re scheduling eight to ten different bands to play in the span of four or so hours.”
Despite this, O’Luanaigh and Cothran both said they enjoyed the experience.
“They could all play circles around me if they so chose, which makes one want to make sure that you’re playing your best,” Cothran said. “Then there was also the fact that Jim Rupp, who had adjudicated my bands that day and is undisputedly one of the world’s best jazz drummers, was sitting immediately behind me while I was playing, which definitely added a certain level of nervousness to the performance that kept me sharp.”
During the jazz fest, Rupp also gave Cothran a pair of drum sticks.
“The festival was a great success,” McCourry said. “The bar has been set high for next year.”
ejohnston@hillsdale.edu