The City College’s Monday Madness Jazz Orchestra had their first event and performance of the year at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club in Victoria Court. The concert opened its doors to students, families and friends from 7 to 9 p.m.
The lights were dimmed and the stage illuminated with colorful lights. The restaurant was filled with people. Many of the guests were still eating and talking to each other while already looking towards the stage. You could feel the excitement for the upcoming show.
The band members got their instruments ready, meanwhile music was still playing over the speaker. There were eighteen musicians, all dressed in black. As the show finally started, director of the Monday Madness Jazz Orchestra, Andrew Martinez held a short speech and welcomed the guests.
The crowd was very engaging and immediately welcomed the band with loud applause. The concert started with a song called “Take It To The Ozone”. All the guests were suddenly quiet and fully focused on the music.
The music immediately put the guests into a good mood and created a great atmosphere, some guests started dancing along or tapping their feet to the beat. The band mainly consisted of wind instruments such as saxes, trumpets and trombones. Besides that they had a piano, electric guitar, double bass and drums. Not only was the audience in a joyful mood, but also the band itself was very cheerful on stage.
They spread their positivity to the audience by smiling and moving along to the beat. After the second piece, Martinez gave a lengthy speech thanking the many guests for coming.
He introduced the band members one at a time throughout the performance and added funny speeches, entertaining the audience all evening long. There was only one 20 minute break, otherwise music was played the whole night except for short speeches held by Martinez.
“The doors are locked, don’t leave,” Martinez said before the break.
After the break, the band jumped right back into it, catching audiences’ attention immediately. It never got boring and the atmosphere stayed high until the last song, “On Purple Porpoise Parkway” ended.
Overall, I have to say although jazz is not usually my kind of music and I don’t really listen to it in my spare time, it was an amazing experience. The music put me in a great mood. I found it really fascinating how professional the band played, but still noticed how passionate every band member was and how much fun they had on stage.
The location was very well picked. The ambiance and atmosphere were really inspiring. When I left SoHO, I thought it was really impressive how you can get an audience in a good mood with such impressive skills.
