On the afternoon of Monday, January 24, Jazz students from Fieldston’s Upper School were invited to attend a performance in the Student Commons. The featured artist was The Nu Band: a Jazz ensemble co-founded by faculty member Lou Grassi. Grassi has been accompanying Middle School dance for around 14 years now at Fieldston. He is an incredibly accomplished artist. He has composed 15 music pieces for different dance choreographers and toured all over the world playing jazz. Grassi has also played alongside a remarkable list of other Jazz artists, including Jimmy Garrison, Johnny Hartman, Sheila Jordan and more. When Grassi and bass player Joe Fonda started the Nu Band in 1999, they wanted their music to mix the concepts of “structure and freedom”. In addition, the Nu Band’s material “is informed by everything in the history of jazz music”, according to Grassi, along with genres such as “20th century classical music, world music, blues music and more.”
If anything stood out about their performance last Monday, it was how they played with the true spontaneity of Jazz improvisation. This aspect of Jazz is the source of bass player Joe Fonda’s adornment for the music genre. After playing the first piece, he pointed out that the unpredictability of improvisation is comparable to that of life itself. Fonda is also a well-accomplished musician. He has previously played for the Anthony Braxton sextet and was the recipient of grants from prestigious art foundations. During the concert he switched between the bass and the flute, but played both instruments with tremendous passion.
Thomas Heberer, the Nu Band’s German trumpet player who was introduced to his instrument at age 11, draws a similar metaphor between improvisation and the act of having a conversation. He describes how in conversation, we usually have some idea of the main ideas we want to get across, but the path we take to do so is unscripted and forces us to be creative.
To the right of Herber, Guitar player Kenny Wessel strummed the electric guitar during the concert. When he was asked how he learned his instrument during the Q/A, he talked about practicing with no intention of playing a particular genre of music, but simply getting accustomed to the instrument.
For the Nu Band’s third song, Jazz director Tom Christensen made a surprise appearance on the stage, playing his alto saxophone alongside the band. Christensen’s performance was flawless, playing as if he himself was a member of the Nu Band.
The concert ended with the Nu Band calling up any student who had their instrument available that was willing to play along with them on stage. Two juniors and a freshman from the audience took them up on their offer. The three students who had never met or played with the Nu band members displayed their ability to improvise and build on each others’ ideas while playing together for the first time. This made their performance a captivating and exciting event to watch.
After the concert, Grassi says that he and the band members “were impressed and rewarded by how attentive everyone was, by what intelligent and thought-provoking questions they asked, and by those who had the courage to come up and play with us.” All participants walked away feeling grateful for the experience.
