It's not jazz again.

Jazz at the atrium was the only performance I could make it due to a hectic work and exam schedule so the information might seem repetitive to my ethnography post. The difference will be the size of the audience and the presence of food. I think the environment change and a shift to a different type of jazz is still worth writing about.

The performance lasted about two hours with me arriving late and this week’s jazz at the atrium featured Freddie Jones and his band. The music pieces played are sometimes merged together or there would be a break as the band plays a new song. The tempo is not consistent since the improvisation of jazz kicks in with sudden changes. What I did notice was never slow like classical music.

Freddie Jones’ jazz features himself as a trumpeter and his band with keyboard, bass, guitar, and drums. With this combination of instruments the texture of music is polyphony. Also looking at Freddie himself he pauses at times during the performance and starts again, several times in fact. I didn’t really notice any disharmony in the music as there wasn’t a chord struck out of place or the trumpet just awkwardly changing notes. The flow of the music gave off an inconsistent rhythm. After listening to a while there, I’ll hear the same melody being played again but differently by some of the instruments and it was almost as if there is ornamentation being added.

The music would change the mood of the atmosphere depending on the presence of the other members. It is hard to explain but the impact causes the audience to stop what they are doing and face the band to listen. Other times they’ll just continue eating. I guess what I’m seeing is a shift from active and passive listening depending on the individual’s taste. The audience will almost unanimously shift their attention when the tempo picks up. It is entertaining to watch people bob their heads to the beat of the music and the applauses are very loud. The food seems to taste better with a live band playing in the background but it might’ve just been me starving. The audience as a whole ranges from college students to adults past their forties. I didn’t really get to interact with the audience much but they showed plenty of attention to the band.

The performers in Freddie’s band will show a varying degree of interaction. Freddie himself being the lead doesn’t really interact with the audience much but he will occasionally look around and if not then he would stand in place. The band members don’t really move their feet but will move their bodies to the music. They show plenty of enthusiasm with the music and get along quite well on stage.

Jazz at the atrium is a weekly occurrence at the Dallas Museum of Arts. The performances are free with a different band each week, the band that played while I was there featured Freddie Jones. His music played in the background of a meal will either steal your attention or make your meal taste better with the shifts in tempo and ornamentations that are almost randomly used throughout the performance.