USC Upstate’s music department is preparing for their final concert of the season, a jazz combo featuring a wide variety of artists, including pieces arranged by Upstate students.
The combo features several standards by artists such as Thelonious Monk, Johnny Mercer, and Errol Garner. Part-time music professor and local guitar player Zachary Pruitt is the director of this semester’s jazz combo.
Upstate concerts are primarily composed of students who register for the course and practice for the concert throughout the semester. Some students are given melodies and are then tasked with creating arrangements not only for the concert but also for class credits.
Students are learning not just jazz standards but also head melody arrangements. This is a jazz form where musicians play the same melody together, have a collection of featured solos, and then conclude with the original melody.
Popular music studies coordinator Dr. Griffin Woodworth said “What I hope that audiences will take away from their experience with the combo is understanding the way that jazz works as an improvisational language. The students are collaborating and listening to each other, they’re collaborating both in the rehearsal process where they make the arrangements and learn the arrangements. They’re also collaborating in real time by listening and soloing and paying attention to each other.”
Popular music concerts are open to the public, and tickets are free for Upstate students. The concert takes place Thursday, April 24th at 7:30PM, in the Humanities and Performing Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online at USC Upstate’s website.
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