• FLC Symphonic Band and Jazz Ensemble perform their final senior recital for the 2016-17 academic year.
• The Symphonic Band performs what some critics call the most devastating piece of music ever written.
• The Jazz Ensemble performed classic jazz, funk and blues performances.
• Sam Kelly, FLC alumni, made a special guest appearance on alto saxophone.

Fort Lewis College presented its final senior band concert for the 2016-17 academic year in the Community Concert Hall on April 15. Performances featured both the FLC Symphonic Band and the Jazz ensemble.

The Symphonic Band

FLC’s Symphonic band was first to perform, and the turnout was fair with parents, students and community members in attendance.

Gustav Holst’s piece, “Mars,” from his seven-movement orchestral piece, “The Planets,” was the first piece of music performed by the Symphonic Band, and it was as exciting as it was intense.

Mark Walters, professor of music and director of FLC band, said the piece of music has been noted by critics as one of the most devastating pieces of music to ever be written.

The piece did little to put audience members’ minds at ease with its thunderous introduction and ominous nature, but can you expect anything less from an orchestral movement subtitled “the Bringer of War”?

It was a beautifully performed, complicated piece and the band certainly rose to the occasion, and it was an impeccable way to start the concert.

Walters said he wanted the set list to showcase a little bit of everything musically, so there was not really a set theme for the night.

This rang true as the second performance was the classic American piece of music, “Amazing Grace,” arranged by Frank Ticheli.

It was a huge change in tone from “Mars,” and it reminded me of the very reason it is a classic. “Amazing Grace” is a lovely and hallowing piece, and FLC’s Symphonic Band gave it new life.

The third song, “Fantasia for Alto Sax” by Claude T. Smith, was a special occasion for the band because FLC alumni Sam Kelly had the opportunity to perform a solo he had been working with Walters on for 3 years.

The song is aggressively complex, and the alto saxophone solo played by Kelly was phenomenal. It doesn’t ease slowly into the solo, rather Kelly was pushed to start off with intensity.

The fourth and final piece performed by the Symphonic Band was “Variations on a Korean Folk Song” by John Barnes Chance.

The piece starts off slowly building on itself and gradually becomes playful and fast paced. After the first quick movement, the piece slows down again into a somber, yet hopeful tone.

It goes back and forth between these different thematic tones, and the students did wonderfully with the complicated timing of the piece.

The Jazz Ensemble

After a short intermission, the Jazz Ensemble hit the stage with a bang by performing “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” by Mercer Ellington and Ted Parsons and arranged by Dave Lalama.

The band played excellently together, and no one was off in either their timing or stage presence.

Sam Kelly made another surprise appearance during the second song of the jazz set, “Slo Funk” by Bob Mintzer.

“Slo Funk” was a nice change from the classic jazz of Ellington and Parsons, and again, Kelly and the other musicians nailed the beats and the timing.

The third song was the classic Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington song “Caravan” performed by the advanced band. Michael Gutierrez, Michael Todd, Andrew Pearson and Jonah Archuleta made up this smaller ensemble.

“Caravan” is a piece that has been performed by many great musicians in the past, but the advanced band held their own.

“Jersey Bounce” arranged by Sammy Nestico, was performed after the smaller band and is more of a standard swing song which was once a number one hit for Benny Goodman and His orchestra, and the final song performed was “Dancing Men” by John LaBarbera, originally written for the Buddy Rich Band.

“Dancing Men” was the perfect song to end the concert on, and it was more straightforward rock and roll. There were countless solos from talented students, and it made you want to go home and immediately practice your instrument or at least start to learn.

Cruz Muniz played one of the best drum solos I have ever heard, and the whole band must have really been trying to impress the audience because the performance was flawless.