The Dingledine Music Center was packed to the brim with what Todd Kelly, Bradley’s music department chair, described as “the best crowd in years” on Monday night.
The audience watched as the main performer precariously balanced a trumpet on her lips so she could play it at the same time as a standing bass.
This talented woman is Gunhild Carling, a Swedish jazz musician who can play multiple instruments at once. She starred on “America’s Got Talent” and Sweden’s versions of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Got Talent.”
On Tuesday, she was also the guest performer for the Bradley Jazz Festival’s 20th anniversary showcase.
How did this talented multi-instrumentalist end up on Bradley’s campus? It all started when Kelly saw Carling in New Orleans.
“[Carling] was playing at a little club called Fritzel’s on Bourbon Street, and I went on Friday night to hear her play one set, but then I heard one set and I stood for two, stood for three, stood for four,” Kelly said. “The next night, I came back and I did the same thing. So I heard her for four hours two nights in a row.”
Getting Carling to come to Bradley’s campus was a little harder than getting lost in her performances, though.
“I talked to her manager, and I said I’d really like to get her to Peoria sometime,” Kelly said. “[Carling] was expensive, so we combined our resources for the Bradley Jazz Festival and the Kolb Concert Series in order to be able to afford to get her here.”
To prepare for the show, Carling spent 90 minutes working with the Jazz Ensemble, as well as performing with them on Monday and Tuesday. Despite the limited time, Carling worked to enhance the group’s performance.
“There shall be an emotion expressed in everything you do. And then maybe what we tried to improve — that you don’t play the note, you play a voice,” Carling said. “It’s like talking but in music.”
Joey Portincaso, a trombonist in the Bradley Jazz Ensemble, felt that Carling made a big impression on the band.
“She was very animated, high energy, funny and obviously knew what she was doing,” Portincaso, a junior studio art major, said. “She wanted all of us to be as excited to play on our own as she was.”
Kelly felt that the band, who had been working on the music for four weeks, considerably improved with Carling’s help.
“She knows exactly what she wants to hear. If she doesn’t hear it, she can look at some of the drivers and then they can change it, and then immediately it sounds better,” Kelly said. “So we worked all that music up, but, you know, it got better when we rehearsed with her.”
Carling’s ability to improve the band is of no surprise. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she taught a youth band from her home.
“I don’t have a teaching style, so the only way to get there is to play,” Carling said. “We played and played and played, and then I can give some advice like avoid these notes, because jazz is a language.”
For Carling, jazz is not only a language; it’s a passion. She has been surrounded by music her entire life, as her parents and siblings are musicians as well. This legacy has continued since both her husband and children also play music.
“Music is literally my whole life,” Carling said. “It’s not a job at all … it sounds maybe strange, but it’s like a religion. It’s the voice of freedom.”
After the jazz festival, Carling will head to San Francisco before going on to New York to play at the Birdland Jazz Club. More information about her upcoming events can be found on her website.
