Monday, July 12, 2010

GRAMMY® Campers Show Their Musical Diversity By Susan Ewing

Day two of ten, couldn’t be that much to do right? Wrong. With only a half day to prepare, the instrumental and singer tracks were split into random groups and had to get ready for the mini-concert taking place later that night. Not only were they given music hours before the concert, but each group had a specific genre, moving from Ella Fitzgerald and Taylor Swift to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and A Tribe Called Quest too. Sounds like quite a challenge right? It was indeed, but each group handled it very professionally.

Kicking off the mini-concert was a jazz piece created by the great Ella Fitzgerald. With John Bassel on bass, Will Pinson on drums, Cody Tripp on guitar, Ajani Nanabuluku on keyboard, Jim Trotter on piano and Quinn Anex-Ries on saxophone, the group had themselves a pretty solid instrumental section. Showing outstanding harmony with their singing were Taylor Harvey, Katherine Stuber - who also received praise for her scatting - and Savannah Meares.

Up next was a hip-hop song called “Scenario” from A Tribe Called Quest. The 11-member crew had an energy flow throughout the whole performance. “Scenario” isn’t an easy song to master in half a day and despite missing some lyrics and some bringing the lyrics up on stage with them, the rappers sold the performance. The powerful rappers, Casey Barth, Alec Gaston, Chris Borst, Richard Mattox, and Dertrick Winn kept up the energy and got the crowed involved during the performance. Having the supportive instrumental section, with Brandon Combs on drums, Alma Macbride on piano, Evan Philpot on bass, Spencer Gibbs on trumpet, Kristen Castro on guitar, and Danny Wirick on keyboard, also helped with the performance.

Group three, Crop Circle, did Alanis Morissette’s “All I Really Want.” The only group having a violin, played by Kevin Schwarzwald, showed an awesome funky vibe going on. Tara Putorti on bass, Sterling Laws on drums, Giavanna Foster and Taina Spicer on guitar, and Dallas McKinney on keyboard jammed out together. A song full of attitude, the three singers, Sarah Lindstedt, Lena Stein, and Brenna Miles, tried to express the emotion and Brenna successfully portrayed attitude with her short solo in the song.

The number four group to perform also gave themselves a name, The Professor’s Nightmare. Starting with a count off, The Professor’s Nightmare sky rocketed with energy from beginning to end in their performance of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” It was a little extra bonus for the crowd when the three singers, Katie Gavin, Christine Jamra, and Ellie Perleberg, introduced each one of their band members - Travis Werling on bass, Brandon Woodward on drums, Mike Harrison on guitar, Michael Arrom on keyboard, and Jake Botts on saxophone. The crowd got into the performance as they swayed their arms to the music.

The last group to perform, Ballistic Nylon, gave a five-star performance of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Ballistic Nylon blew the crowd away with a solo intro played by Gunnar Rolfs on guitar. The five singers, Casey Barth, Alec Gaston, Ryan Jarvis, and Richard Mattox, did their part in harmonizing wonderfully together. The instrumental section kept the relaxed, rock flow going with Daniel Oldham on bass, India Pascucci on drums, Tom Wilson on keyboard and a stand-out horn section with Jonathan Huggins on trombone and Jarrod Booth on trumpet.

The concert showed off the unity of the Camp, with the five bands getting their performances together in a day and the Electronic Music Production setting up all the equipment in an equally short time.

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