It’s time for campus to get a little more swank-ified.
The Butler University Jordan Jazz will hold its annual “Sweet Jazz” concert at the end of the month. They are switching up locations and promising a relaxing night with some favorite pop standards and newer hits too.
“We’re making it a bit more intimate this year,” Michael Douce, the director of Jordan Jazz and adjunct music professor said.
The group’s first change is moving from the Reilly Room to the much cozier Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall.
In addition, fifth-year Arts Administration and Music Education major Blake Busch said they’re taking out the usual dancing and jazz band that accompanies the performance and making it just a show for Jordan Jazz, where people can come to “sit down and relax.”
“The audience will get to be in comfy chairs, we’ll be on a stage with lighting and the acoustics are out of this world [in Eidson-Duckwall],” senior communications major Adrienne Scott said. “It’s really exciting to have the venue change.”
After the concert, the audience is invited to a reception in the Ford Salon. Besides hors d’oeuvres, a band will be playing music and the members of Jordan Jazz will be inviting the audience to talk to them about their performance or any upcoming performances. Scott assures it will be a “relaxing environment.”
“Sweet Jazz” is the main on-campus concert for Jordan Jazz, as most of the group’s performances are elsewhere.
This year, “elsewhere” also includes Hong Kong. The group is traveling there for ten days over the summer to feature at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and host a workshop, led by director Tim Brimmer, a professor who is on sabbatical for the semester. Scott said the group will get to perform for the participants and hopefully interact and form relationships with the other choirs in attendance.
Their first focus, however, is their upcoming concert, which Busch, Douce and Scott are all anxious for Butler students to attend.
“It’s absolutely afforable” Scott said. “Jazz is such a unique art, I really just think there’s no better way to be exposed to it than by your peers.”
Busch issued similar sentiments.
“It’s fun, and not very long or expensive,” he said. “It’s for a good cause as well.”
If that still doesn’t pull you in, Douce has one last offer to entice the Butler campus.
“We’re working on a version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’” he said. “That’s going to sort of top off our performance.”