University of Indianapolis students showcased their skills in the second annual Carmel Jazz Festival, according to an email from UIndy Arts. Located in the core of Carmel, musicians and music lovers came together to celebrate Indiana’s history of jazz, according to the Carmel Jazz Fest website, which aimed to highlight musicians in jazz, R&B and blues genres and to showcase the venue’s greenspaces available to up and coming artists. Bringing energy and education to the community through music is the goal, according to the mission statement found on its website.
Jazz performance majors Michael Armington, Sebastian Rodriguez, Reilly Ferguson, Music Education major Bryce Hughes and community member Kenvae Tarver performed as part of UIndy’s Jazz Quintet. They played in the Studio Theater of the Center for the Performing Arts. Armington, a sophomore tenor saxophone player, said he realized his love of jazz music after taking a jazz history class and joining his middle school jazz band, enough to pursue it at UIndy. Being a Jazz performance major in a smaller group has its perks, Armington said. He said more personalized rehearsal space and instruction help groups like the UIndy Jazz Quintet play so well together.
“We’re all working together,” Armington said. “I can hit up Reilly or Sebastian, and we can just play. We can just meet up somewhere on campus. It’s not too complicated.”
Sophomore drummer Ferguson said studying jazz music at UIndy has helped him grow not only as a musician but also as an individual. Much like Armington, Ferguson said his love of music began in middle school and has continued into higher education. Being a part of a small, supportive environment can lead to opportunities like the Carmel Jazz Festival, Ferguson said.
“There is competition, but it’s very healthy competition that’s very supportive,” Ferguson said. “There’s always feedback, and it’s beneficial. We’re all focused and determined. We share a common goal.”
Associate Professor and Director of Jazz Studies Mark O’Connor was behind the quintet’s involvement in the festival, Ferguson said. O’Connor presented them with the exciting opportunity and the group made the journey to Carmel to play at the show alongside other local, national and international artists on Aug. 9.
O’Connor, who has been at the university for eight years, helped the jazz studies program grow from a concentration to a major in the fall of 2021, making it an exciting time for the program with higher enrollment numbers. O’Connor said students receive more personalized instruction on their area of focus from faculty that have real-world expertise. He said he views his students as professionals-in-training, teaching them more than just music, but also professionalism and performance aspects.
“[The UIndy Jazz performance major] is more intensive,” O’Connor said. “[Students] get to work from day one with the jazz faculty. They get to have private jazz lessons on their instrument. That’s the biggest difference I think between the jazz concentration and the jazz major…The guys on the jazz faculty are out there doing it. They’re out there playing gigs, they’re out there putting together records or albums or recording songs of theirs, they’re writing, they’re doing all that stuff. The jazz faculty brings in all that real world, immediately applicable knowledge, and they pass that on to the students.”
O’Connor said his relationship with jazz directors at other area colleges led to the UIndy quintet performing at the Carmel Jazz Festival. The festival was organized by Mark Buselli, Professor of Music Performance (Jazz Studies) and Director of Jazz Ensembles at Ball State University, part of the group of jazz directors with which is involved, O’Connor said. He said for the second year in a row, jazz programs at Indiana University, Butler University, UIndy and Ball State have worked together to give students more performance experience through events like the Carmel Jazz Festival.
“To have the opportunity to perform at a professional festival like the Carmel Jazz Fest is an invaluable performance experience for the students who are in the group,” O’Connor said.
According to Armington and O’Connor, jazz music is an important part of the United States culture and history because of the element of improvisation, which carries overto everyday life.
“It’s important to promote America’s original music art form,” O’Connor said. “But, it’s also important because no other type of music … has the element of improvisation. We don’t really think about it too much, but that’s such an important aspect, and it’s something that is applicable to everybody, no matter if you’re a musician or not.”
UIndy’s jazz programs and ensembles is open to all students even if they are pursuing a major outside of music education or jazz performance, O’Connor said. The first jazz event of the semester is a part of the Faculty Artist Concert series, and it is scheduled for Sept. 9. It will feature O’Connor’s quartet performing compositions from his future album “Like a Kid Again,” according to UIndy 360.
“I think it is very beneficial to spread the music,” Ferguson said. “But, also I feel like it’s like a nice, ‘enrich your life’ kind of moment to be getting out and doing these opportunities. They can pass right by, but then you catch them, and then it feels like life is for living.”
