YAZZ Band, an experiment in improvisation 

Jazz can trace its roots to many different styles of music and culture. It was in the American south the sound would be born and develop. Thrown into the melting pot of the United States, these cultural sounds would blend together to give birth to a sound that is wholly American. 

Large brass bands were nothing new when jazz was born, but jazz has an element that many other styles of music does not, improvisation. 

The act of improvisation is composing during the performance, jumping from the sheet music onto a path and into a sound that can be completely original and perhaps, never be heard again.

While appearing on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse, Director of Bands and Jazz Studies at Sheridan College, Dr. Eric Richards and Regents Professor Emeritus of Washington State University Dr. Greg Yasinitsky, spoke on the act of improvisation in jazz while discussing the upcoming performance of Yasinitsky’s YAZZ Band in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, in Kinnison Hall at the Whitney Center for the Arts.

Many times the instinct to improvise during a performance is suppressed during the performances of larger ensembles, due to the size and power of such a large band. 

Yasinitsky’s YAZZ Band is an experiment of sorts, blending the components of the power of a larger band, yet small enough that intimacy is not lost in numbers and improvisation is not washed in a booming sea of sound.  

The performance at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, is part of The Arts at Sheridan College Dinner and a Show series. For more details and to purchase tickets, click here.