The Bryan/College Station community is very fortunate to have the Friends of Chamber Music and all of the wonderful Art Music that this organization brings to B/CS! Last night’s Jazz Prelude performance by the Raquel Cepeda Latin Jazz Septet from Houston was a unique and much needed experience for B/CS, which I hope happens more frequently.

Cepeda’s septet was not only comprised of world-class virtuoso improvisers who were well-versed in the vocabulary of America’s classical music known as Jazz, but the group was also a somewhat rare sighting in the live Jazz scene: they were a well-rehearsed, cohesive ENSEMBLE that was successfully (and more importantly, effortlessly) executing very clever, complex and interesting/original arrangements! As someone who has seen and heard a lot of live Jazz in many different cities over the decades, I’d like to point out that this is not always the case. This was definitely more than just a “pick up band” of good players thrown together at the last minute for a gig. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear how well they specialized in the less frequently performed Brazillian forms of Jazz styles, as opposed to just playing the more commonly performed (but still wonderful) Cuban “Salsa” styles of Jazz.

I’ve been to other bands’ performances at Century Square and was also very impressed at how large of a turnout there was at last night’s event, compared to the other crowds that I’ve seen there. I also noticed a lot of the dining crowd and people passing by who also stopped and seemed to be pleasantly surprised last night, which makes me think that there are a lot people in B/CS who became introduced to the FCM last night and will hopefully seek out supporting more of this wonderful organization’s events.

Thank you so much, Friends of Chamber Music!

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Travis Barney

Band Teacher, College Station ISD