On Wednesday night, Nov. 14, the jazz ensemble took the Crowell stage and dazzled the audience with creativity and passion. This ensemble performs every semester entertaining audiences with their catchy tunes.

During this concert, Cliff Hulling, director of jazz ensemble and professor of percussion and composition, did not occupy his normal conducting stance. Instead, he gave the audience a treat, pounding his heart away at the drums.

“Just great to work with people that love jazz and they wanna do a concert like they did tonight,” Hulling said. “You know, they wanna have fun, but they also wanna work hard. So, I got the best job in town.”

Every Monday afternoon before the concert, the ensemble’s catchy tunes could be heard around the conservatory. The trumpets and brass blasted loudly through the hallways consistently in preparation for this night. The concert was well-prepared, and the young people on stage were in their element.

Junior commercial music major Joshua Childress played several alto saxophone solos throughout the evening. The audience clapped and cheered as Childress embellished the tunes with his melodic somersaults on the sax.

“All the extended chords and extended melodies in jazz, it just connects to me, and I really feel that my personality is deeply connected to jazz,” Childress said. “My roots are in jazz.”

The performers were literally playing, visibly enjoying their performances. Sometimes performers can become so stiff in a concert that their nervousness can be felt by the audience. The opposite, however, was true of this concert. After all their hard work, the musicians relaxed and allowed the sway of the jazz to take over.

“One of my favorites to play actually was… ‘Green Dolphin Street.’ It was kind of an interesting style, something I’m really into,” said Sarah Newman, freshman music composition major and trumpet player.

Many audience members thoroughly enjoyed this jazz concert. They were supportive as they cheered the players on throughout the concert and gave two standing ovations at the end.

“I really enjoyed getting to see my friend Chloe [Rogers] play…  She did some solos. That was really exciting to watch her,” said Lauren Morford, senior English major.

As an encore, the ensemble jammed the house with the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” The audience sang along and clapped in unison. With a final blast from the trumpets, and banging of the drums by Hulling, the concert had a stunning ending.