VALDOSTA — The title of Lowndes High Jazz Ensemble’s latest CD may have been created in the heat of the moment, but the album’s silky, smooth sounds come from long hours of rehearsal and dedication.
“While trying to get the rhythm section to form a groove, I rather heatedly made the statement that if it didn’t make you want to move, it lacked the proper amount of ‘grooviticity,’” notes Charles E. Todd II, Lowndes High’s band director. “The students thought the word sounded cool, and decided to name the CD ‘Grooviticity.’”
A noun, according to the CD’s cover, Grooviticity means “a musical quality found in the pocket that induces a state of uncontrollable head bobbing.”
Or better yet, just listen to the latest LHS Jazz Ensemble CD and no words are needed to define “Grooviticity.” The music says it all.
This is the third LHS Jazz Ensemble CD since 2004 and it is arguably the best album yet. From the opening notes of “Fatback and Greens” to the closing coda of “Fantasy,” the student musicians of the LHS Jazz Ensemble present an always solid, quite often brilliant, recording.
Chuck Mangione’s flugelhorn hit “Feels So Good” is a centerpiece to the CD. Featuring Daniel O’Neal on flugelhorn and Scott Effman on acoustic guitar, “Feels So Good” feels so right.
While the classic “My Funny Valentine” can turn into a parody of a torch song in the wrong hands, the Jazz Ensemble, featuring the vocals of Laura Gaddy, present a poignant and memorable version of the song. The combination of instrumentation and Gaddy’s voice captures the tune’s elusive smiling through the tears quality. Gaddy and Philip Lovell on tenor sax also carve out a niche for themselves in the Bert Bacharach tune “The Look of Love.”
This album features last academic year’s LHS Jazz Ensemble. In May, Charles Todd took the group to First Avenue Sound, a Franklin, Tenn., recording studio, where they spent up to 20 hours per day, during a three-day period, recording “Grooviticity.”
A former LHS Jazz Ensemble student made this and the previous two recordings possible. J. Chris Griffin, a former LHS marching band and jazz ensemble musician, a former student of Todd’s, and now a New York-based professional musician and record producer, met with the LHS Jazz Ensemble to help Todd produce the album. Griffin has worked with Madonna, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, John Legend, etc.
In meeting him, the LHS Jazz Ensemble students not only get to record a first-class album, they could also see the possibilities in a musical career.
This is the third professionally produced LHS Jazz Ensemble CD. The first, recorded in 2004, was “Quiet Screams,” a jazzy, torchy blend of spirited tunes and bluesy instrumentation. The second, recorded in 2006, was “Listen Up,” which was a more intricate album, with more depth, than “Quiet Screams.”
“Grooviticity” continues the tradition. On this latest album, the LHS Jazz Ensemble makes all of these complicated arrangements sound so easy.
The album features musicians, as credited on the CD, Adrian Collins, drums; Alex Rowell, alto sax; Brandon Chambers, trumpet; Carissa Clark, trombone; Chris Hale, trumpet; Daniel Ewing, guitar; Daniel O’Neal, trumpet; Dona Kioseff, trombone; Drew Johnson, bari sax, flute; Emily Whitman, piano, keyboards; FatMatt Welch, bass guitar; Heather Williams, tenor sax; Jared Hanna, alto sax; Jotham Camion, trombone; Kevin Lunceford, trombone; Kristin Wooley, trumpet; Laura Gaddy, vocals; Martavius Parrish, alto sax; Michael Reaves, trumpet; Philip Lovell, tenor sax; Ryan McLendon, percussion; Stephen McKown, guitar.
GROOVITICITY
Lowndes High School Jazz Ensemble’s latest CD is available at LHS, Hahira Middle School, Lowndes Middle School, Lowndes County Board of Education, Hildegard’s, Bleu Café, and all LHS football games at the band concession booth.
All proceeds support Lowndes High’s instrumental music programs.
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