The Renaissance of American Big Band Jazz: An Exploration in Contemporary Presentation

The Renaissance of American Big Band Jazz: An Exploration in Contemporary Presentation is a project aimed towards answering the question: What contemporary demands establish the guidelines of modern music consumption, and how can students apply these guidelines to the knowledge and skills acquired through the pursuit of degrees at the Lamont School of Music to proliferate the success of their professional careers? I believe that the demands of contemporary music consumption require a multimedia approach, marrying a variety of artistic forms to grab the attention of modern music consumers, who now expect to engage with art through myriad simultaneous sensory experiences.
 

In this project, I will innovate a revitalization of big band jazz consumption. I will combine big band jazz arrangement and instrumentation with original musical composition, modern electric pop band instrumentation, live musical performance & improvisation, live visual art, and cutting-edge videography to create a singular yet multidimensional piece of art. This piece will be distributed across a variety of digital platforms, as will an alternate version consisting only of audio material. I will analyze the online world’s differing engagement with each respective form (video vs. audio) with the goal of proving that a multimedia approach yields a more popular product. With this project, I intend to electrify the golden era of American big band jazz. By bringing classic big band instrumentation and musical style into a realm of presentation that is palatable to the ears and eyes of the modern consumer, I will create a more engaging experience for the audience, reintroducing intellectually and instrumentally intricate music to the popular eye.