With instruments poised and fingers itching in anticipation, the
members of the Latin Jazz Ensemble eagerly wait for their director
Bobby Rodriguez to signal to them, inviting them to join the
groove.
“(There’s) a lot of finger pointing
(involved),” Rodriguez said. “When you get the finger
pointed at you that means it’s your time to
improvise.”
Rodriguez, the acclaimed and Grammy-nominated jazz musician, is
in his second year as a faculty member at UCLA. The students in
Rodriguez’s Latin Jazz Ensemble have a chance to show off
their improvisational skills Tuesday night in Schoenberg Hall,
where they intend to deliver velvety notes and catchy Cuban
rhythms.
Despite encouraging the advanced art of improvisation,
Rodriguez, an East Los Angeles native, stresses the importance of
the basics of Latin Jazz.
The backbone of this specific music genre is the rhythm. Whether
it is the cha-cha, bolero or salsa, the authentic Latin-American
rhythm called “rhythm en clave” must be understood
before the musicians are able to layer the jazz notes over it.
“I’ve learned a lot about rhythm,” drummer and
second-year jazz studies student Stefan Litrownik said.
“I’ve learned a lot about staying in the groove and the
pocket.”
Next comes improvisation, where musicians must pay attention to
the notes being played and use their knowledge of jazz theory to
come up with a new melody, using notes appropriate to the chords in
the existing groove.
To Rodriguez, the skill of improvisation is not only useful in
music. It is almost necessary in life.
“Students have to realize that life is unknown,”
Rodriguez said. “You might set your sights in one direction
but if you’re one degree off, you’re going to end up
way over some place else. That’s when improvisation comes
in.”
In a business as unpredictable as the music industry, Rodriguez
spends a lot of time imparting practical information to his
students. About one-third of classroom time is devoted to telling
students, many of whom plan to become professional musicians, about
the music industry and the importance of a clean image.
“It’s very important to leave an impression
that’s positive, (you want to be someone) that’s clean
and that’s good ““ not a dirty, sloppy, smoking
drunk,” Rodriguez said.
Having a clean image in no way inhibits the music from being
fun. Brass instruments both croon and cry, accompanying the
ritualistic rhythms with robust notes. A piano adds more subtle but
mesmerizing and complicated measures. Though rooted in rules and
theory, Latin jazz sounds like a melee of sound that tickles and
teases its listeners.
Though the music is exciting to listen to, it is also a visual
performance.
“You can see and feel the rhythms and see the musicians
brains working,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a little
laboratory and it’s exciting to be inside seeing things
bubble.”
Rodriguez encourages the visual aspect of performance, believing
stage presence is a very important part of Latin jazz music. Elliot
Deutsch, a second-year mathematics and jazz studies student, is
thinking about taking salsa dance lessons to enhance his stage
presence.
“If you go to a concert and look boring ““ even if
your music’s really great ““ it’s not the
same,” Deutsch said.
In the true spirit of improvisation and spontaneity, the Latin
Jazz Ensemble’s program for its performance has yet to be
announced.
“We’ll be doing some experiment right on the stage,
too,” Rodriguez said. “We have our developed ideas and
songs, but there’s always that little 10 percent of
“˜what’s going to happen next?’ I don’t even
know those things. I like a little bit of the unknown; it keeps us
on our toes.”
The UCLA Jazz Ensemble performs tomorrow at 8 p.m. Tickets are
$7 for students and $3 for seniors.