Several students sat outside Hartman Rehearsal Hall on Monday afternoon waiting for rehearsal with instruments on their laps and The Spring Quartet’s Tuesday concert on their minds. Barrett Clark ’17, a trombone player in the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, pressed fellow musician Erin Huffer ’17 to come to the 7 p.m. concert. A real “jazzer” would see the Spring Quartet, he insistsed.
“Live music always sounds better,” Clark said. “And you can never get enough jazz.”
The Spring Quartet features drummer and National Endowment for the Arts jazz master Jack DeJohnette, Grammy Award-winning tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, Grammy Award-winning bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding and Argentinian pianist Leo Genovese.
The group comes to Hanover after a Feb. 28 performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble director Don Glasgo said that part of the group’s appeal comes from its multi-generational nature. At 71, DeJohnette is a highly influential jazz drummer who was a member of the Keith Jarrett Trio and performed with renowned musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Spalding joined the scene in 2011 when she won the Grammy Award for best new artist and adds a freshness to the group, Glasgo said.
The Spring Quartet has an “in the moment” approach to music, creating sounds on stage as opposed to just reproducing music from the past, Glasgo said.
“It will be more creative than most jazz concerts,” Glasgo said. “The concert is a lot less predictable, and so an audience member is more a part of it and can join in. That environment is what the best jazz is about.”
Glasgo says that it is uncommon for a group composed of such high caliber jazz musicians to go on a major international tour. Lovano performed at the Hopkins Center in 2003, and DeJohnette performed at Dartmouth in 2005.
“To see that fluidity and creativity in a major tour is relatively rare,” Glasgo said. “It’s not stuff I’ve heard before. I stay home if it’s stuff I’ve heard before.”
The group appealed to Clark because of the generational range of its players, he said, noting that Spalding, in particular, is a fascinating musician.
“I’ve never heard of a bass player who sings while they play,” Clark said. “The bass is the foundation of the chords and singing is the melody. That’s a really interesting juxtaposition.”
Juliana Baratta ’17 said that Spalding inspires her because so few female jazz artists work in the music industry.
“The best way to learn jazz is to listen to it live,” Baratta said. “It’s really great to see a female professional jazz player leading the way.”
Music professor Fred Haas, who teaches performance laboratory classes in jazz improvisation, said that jazz brings people from different backgrounds together, “one of the real beauties” of the genre.
Haas requires students in his course on the history of jazz to attend two to three concerts at the Hop during the term. Haas said that students should not miss the opportunity to attend exceptional performances at a discounted price.
Rebecca Bailey, the Hop’s publicity coordinator, said she expects the show to sell out. Bailey said in an email that programming director Margaret Lawrence tried to book The Spring Quartet two years ago once she learned of the group’s formation.
Glasgo said that no one, not even the artists themselves, knows exactly what tonight’s concert will be like.
“The music tonight will truly be in the moment, as living and artistic as it gets,” Glasgo said.
The Spring Quartet performs tonight at 7 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium.
