“Just Jazz”, a student-initiated band, recently auditioned in NC/DC and is moving on to semi-finals this weekend. While NC/DC may be where they are known best, this band does a lot more than just this one event. Through these events, the band has formed many memories together and become quite close.
“Just Jazz” began four years ago with five students: Elena Lee, Brandon Englin, Ian Else, Michael Hornback and Luke Van Peursem. The group has been around longer than most student-initiated groups as they replace old members with new faces and talents. Today, the band consists of Abigail Tilberg on keys, Allison Sjaarda on electric bass, Annika Jahn on alto saxophone, Angel Skippings on Trumpet, Benjamin Geary on drums and the groups vocalists, James Cavanary, Morgan Huls and Nadia Lee.
Skippings, the current trumpet player, was asked to join when Van Peursem graduated, and has loved the band since. “My favorite part about the group is seeing the different ideas we all bring together for songs and gigs blossom into something beautiful.” Skippings says. The band practices once or twice a week as a whole, with individual practices varying from person to person, to achieve their beautiful work.
One of the annual performances “Just Jazz” is most known for is NC/DC. This year, they performed a mash-up of two songs: “She” by Elvis Costello and “Creep” by Radiohead. “Our idea for NC/DC was thought of by our vocalists.” says Skippings, “They were thinking about two songs, and instead of choosing between the two, we decided to do a mashup which was organized by our pianist Abigail Tilberg.”
“I wanted to do Creep because it kind of sounded fun. We brought that up as a group, and we had heard a couple different jazz versions that we could have worked off of.” Cavanry adds “Then, I heard the song ‘She’ randomly on a jazz playlist I was listening to, and the way that he sang the word ‘She’ somehow transitioned perfectly into the bridge of Creep.”
The group then created a whole storyline to go with this unique mashup. Beginning in “She”, Cavanry plays the role of a man torn between two lovers. He goes back and forth between the two, talking about how good they are. He then becomes torn between the two women because of their different problems, which makes the women begin to feel inferior. As the band transitions into “Creep”, there is a fight between the three characters.
“Ultimately, it does not work out and I, the man, end up losing both of them, rightfully so, and there’s no happy ending to the story.” Cavanry said “A song usually ends on the I chord, or the tonic of the scale for those music students out there, but we decided to end on the minor IV chord to create dissonance and mystery. It showed that it wasn’t a happy ending and that even though a song is supposed to end a little bit more resolved, the story was not.”
After watching their audition, Juleah Brinks said, “I think that the acting added to their performance and was a big reason why a lot of people chose them.”
“I really enjoyed Just Jazz’s performance.” Lily Twaddle said about the band’s musicality “The harmonies and vocalists were insane!”
“I loved the performance because for one, they not only had excellent stage play, but for something as theatre and audience oriented as NC/DC is, it was great to have a story on stage.” said Timothy Giacobbe “Every movement they made was purposeful and worked into this giant web that eventually wove into this giant tapestry of gloriousness.”
While many saw the acting in the band’s performance as a positive, there were some people who disagreed with this idea. “I think I would’ve liked their performance better if there was less acting,” says Abigail Martinson. “I think it drew away from the music.”
Besides NC/DC, “Just Jazz” plays at many other events including the Donor’s Banquet, Genesis House Luncheon, Dordt Swing Dance and Senior Night. While they play many familiar jazz tunes, they also enjoy adding their own jazzy twist to many other genres and songs as well.
Regarding the Donor’s Banquet, Cavanary says, “We provide them a space to listen to some great music, have a very comfortable environment, and there’s even some dancing. Some of the older couples like to dance to our songs while we sing and play.”
Twaddle attended a couple of Just Jazz’s performances outside of NC/DC. “I saw them last year at the Fruited Plain and they played a jazzy rendition of Pink Pony Club, and that forever lives in my head as one of the coolest things ever.” Twaddle said “I love how they jazzify pop songs and the twist they add to things.”
Cavanary, Skippings, and Tilberg all emphasized the theme of “family” when discussing “Just Jazz”. Skippings said, “The ‘Just Jazz Combo’ is more than just a band or music group. We are a family of people who love performing together, making memories, sharing laughs, and ultimately having fun with each other.”
“It’s like another little unique family to me,” Tilberg adds “and even throughout all the changes and ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade getting to make music with everyone over the years for the world.”
