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Students, professionals jazz up Student Center

Unlike most days, this Tuesday the Michel Student Center was filled with faint sounds of piano, saxophones and clarinets as various musicians performed in the Student Center Ballroom for Bradley’s annual Jazz Festival.
Professor of Trumpet and Director of Jazz Ensembles Todd Kelly said the Jazz Fest was created 14 years ago to provide the Peoria community with a taste of Jazz music.

“[Jazz fest] is for the high school kids who come play, which is good for [Bradley music] recruiting,” Kelly said. “I [also] think a big part of my job is to spread the gospel of jazz. It’s a part of educational outreach. The people we bring in are the best in the world.”

The event brought in 15 high school bands from around the Peoria area to perform musical sets, and the Bradley Groove Project and the Jazz Ensemble followed.

The special musical guest was award-winning pianist Tamir Hendelman, who said he was impressed with Bradley’s music department and appreciates its Jazz Festival.

“I was here years ago with the Jeff Hamilton Trio, and that’s how I met Todd Kelly,” Hendelman said. “A few years later, I contacted [Kelly] and told him I’d love to come back, bring my own trio, work with the students … I enjoy visiting the students and seeing how into the music they are and what a great program [Bradley] has here.”

Hendelman first began playing the piano at the age of six and won his first major competition by age 14. He said his earliest encounter with music occurred as a child while randomly walking through the streets of his hometown in Israel.

“When I was growing up in Israel, about six years old, I walked down the street and walked by a music store,” Hendelman said. “A gentleman was demonstrating an electronic organ … I’d heard the piano in school, but it was the organ that captured my imagination with all the different sounds – sort of like a small orchestra. I later got to hear some pretty good jazz musicians who came to Israel, like Chick Corea and Bobby McFarrin, [who] kind of inspired me to get into jazz.”
Hendelman began the night playing four musical pieces alongside the Bradley Jazz Ensemble and later by two members of his Jazz group, “The Tamir Hendelman Trio.”

Bryan Garner, member of the Jazz Ensemble, said he was thrilled with the opportunity to play saxophone alongside Hendelman.

“I thought it was a wonderful experience [playing with Hendelmen], and I learned a lot about improvising,” Garner said. “He wrote two of the songs [we played] and arranged three [renditions] of them. He was able to tell us what he was thinking when he wrote the songs and what we wanted out of us when we performed them … He said a lot of insightful stuff on what it meant to play jazz.”

While with his trio, Hendelmen led into each song describing the inspiration for creating each of the upcoming pieces. Ranging from themes of swinging with his daughter at the playground to getting lost in the woods with his wife in Israel, each bit of monologue added depth to his music.

“[I get my musical inspiration from] life experiences,” Hendelmen said. “You travel a lot as a musician, so you see a lot of different countries, and I enjoy trying the food, talking to the people and [getting] a feel for their culture and nature.”
During his performance, Hendelmen would also often cue spontaneous solos for his bandmates to improvise.

After attending the festival, senior management and leadership major Eli Book said the performance was far more entertaining than what he originally expected.
“I originally came to the show for some extra credit for my art appreciation class,” Book said. “I was blown away by the performance [of Tamir and his trio]. These guys looked like they were born to play those instruments, and everything was in sync, and it was entertaining watching them interact.”

Students interested in the Jazz Festival can look to the Music Scholarship Concert Series, with its next performance being a faculty recital with the Bradley Guitar Ensemble on March 4 at Dingeldine Music Center. For more information, call the Cultural Events Box Office at (309) 677-2650.

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