As someone who has never been to a jazz evening before, I was intrigued by the idea. I had listened to jazz music before but never taken an avid interest in it. It was quite quiet when we first arrived and the mic was not working at first, but slowly more people came and the atmosphere built. Luckily, despite having a few off-moments, the mic was mostly fixed. The event was especially inclusive as not only was it accessible to all students but it engaged with the local community as some older generations came along and graced the audience with their musical talent.
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As it seems to be the nature of jazz, everything just seemed to gel very well. People would get up and join in, no one seemed out of place or confused, and one of my friends who was on the piano for part of it said that someone would just shout out a song and you would go with it or could bring the music sheets up on your phone. The only criticism I would have would be the seating. Whilst some people prefer to stand at events so they can more easily mingle, it was definitely an event where it was nice to have a seat and I wish there had been some more seating available.
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One of the highlights of the evening, other than this really sweet old man who was amazing at the saxophone, was when one woman started singing Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Not only is the song such a good choice as so many people tend to know it, but her voice and rendition of the song was insane! All in all, I would definitely go to a Jazz evening again. I had a very enjoyable time, and whilst my flatmate and I said we were going to just pop along for an hour we ended up staying much longer. Whilst the jazz evening is supposed to end at 10, the music carried on for much longer, which is just a testimony to the enjoyable nature of the evening and the immense talent in the room. It was such a good evening that I walked away feeling very inspired and am now determined to learn the drums.
The union has a Jazz night every Thursday night at 8 pm in the main bar.
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