The members of the New Art Jazz Quartet, which will perform 8 p.m. Sunday at Shryock Auditorium, have constructed a group whose musical style has been defined by the individual styles of each of its members.

The sum is greater than the parts, bassist Phil Brown, said. And a group is defined by its individual members.

In 1983, several faculty of the School of Music at SIUC formed the New Arts Jazz Quartet. Through the years, the group’s styles have changed with its core members.

Advertisement

The sum of the styles of the New Art Jazz Quartet’s current members, who have been together since 1995, primarily equals hard bop. But other styles particularly Latin are also part of their repertoire.

Hard bop is a style that emerged from the late ’50s. This type of music was played by jazz legend John Coltrane, Brown said.

Bob Allison, the quartet’s trumpet/flugelhorn player, describes the hard-bop style as soulful.

Hard bop is a slowed down, soulful style of jazz with harmonic characteristics and blues influence, he said. It can get really complex really fast when trying to describe it.

Hard bop is closely related to bebop, which was pioneered by Charlie Parker in the late ’40s, and swing, which was made famous first by Louis Armstrong and later by dance bands.

The musical style of the New Arts Jazz Quartet can be played and enjoyed equally in clubs or concert halls. The New Arts Jazz Quartet has been featured in concerts, clinics and festivals throughout the Midwest.

Allison said the entire tour in the winter 1996 was memorable because of the ambiance and crowd response two things that make performances by the New Arts Jazz Quartet more inspiring.

Advertisement*

The space was great and the audience responsive, Allison said. When the level of appreciation is high, we enjoy and we play better. It creates a better performance.

In addition to playing at different venues in the Midwest, the New Arts Jazz Quartet has an annual spring concert at SIUC.

Four out of the seven songs in the line up for Sunday night’s concert are songs composed by members of the quartet. Brown said this offers a variety of musical styles for the diverse listening of the Shyrock audience.

The SIUC community is a mixed audience. They range from music appreciation students to the talented listener, he said. We make an effort to appeal to everyone.

Factoid:The show is $3 general admission and $2 for students, children and seniors. For information, call 453-3493.